HOME DEPARTMENT

Arrest Warrants

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many German nationals have been extradited to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant in each of the last 10 years.

James Brokenshire: Due to the way data was recorded prior to 2009, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of surrenders of German nationals for the years prior to 2009/10.
	According to information obtained from the National Crime Agency, between the 2009/2010 and 2013/2014 business years, two German nationals were extradited to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant from Germany.
	The individuals were Frank Schaper and Michael Luck.
	Schaper was wanted for the fraudulent evasion of excise duty after entering the UK driving a lorry containing 8,435,200 cigarettes. No duty had been paid on the cigarettes, and the duty evaded totalled £1,242,080. After failing to attend court in the UK, Schaper was arrested in Germany in September 2009 and extradited back to the UK on 18 September 2009.
	Luck was involved in a collision which resulted in the death of another lorry driver in the UK. He failed to appear at a police station as instructed, and was thought to have fled to Germany. When Luck was eventually located in Germany, he was found to be serving a sentence for another offence. The German authorities subsequently agreed to his temporary surrender and he was returned to the UK on 17 June 2011 to stand trial. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment. He was transferred back to Germany on 17 October 2011 to serve both his remaining German sentence, and his UK sentence.
	Figures for 2013 indicate that the main ground for refusal of extradition by Germany to all EU countries, not just the UK, was under Article 4(6) of the European Arrest Warrant Framework Decision. This provides that where the person has been requested to serve a sentence, the executing state may refuse to extradite its nationals and residents, and instead enforce the sentence in that state.

Civil Disorder: Compensation

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the potential effect of reforms proposed by her Department to the Riot (Damages) Act 1986 on the level of compensation paid to businesses.

Michael Penning: A full financial impact assessment was published alongside the recent public consultation on reform of the Riot (Damages) Act. The consultation ran from 5 June to 1 August. Submissions to the consultation are now being considered and the Government’s response, including a revised impact assessment, will be published in due course.

Counter-terrorism

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total amount spent on the Prevent programme was in each of the last five years; and how much of that was allocated via local authorities in each such year.

James Brokenshire: The Prevent strategy was revised in June 2011. Since then, the funding allocations for the Prevent programme were as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 FY 2011/12 36 
			 FY 2012/13 35 
			 FY 2013/14 39 
			 FY 2014/15 40 
		
	
	In each of these years, £5.1 million has been made available to local authorities on a grant basis to deliver Prevent work at local level.
	The 2011 Prevent Strategy separated Prevent and integration work. As a result, the Department for Communities and Local Government leads the Government’s integration strategy. Integration work no longer receives funding from the Home Office. It is therefore misleading to draw comparisons between Prevent funding figures before and after 2011.

Counter-terrorism: Cardiff

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the support given to the Cardiff Prevent priority area by the Office of Security and Counter Terrorism.

James Brokenshire: Since the revised Prevent Strategy was published in June 2011, the Home Office has worked closely with local authorities in Prevent priority areas, and therefore has an ongoing understanding of the effectiveness of programmes in a given area. A monitoring framework to assess the performance of local authority Prevent priority areas has been established giving a systematic overview of all funded posts and projects. This performance monitoring data informs the Government's report on its counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, which is published annually.

Crime: Maps

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including fraud data as notified to the National Intelligence Bureau in crime maps produced by her Department.

Norman Baker: Home Office officials are currently consulting with interested parties and users of Police.uk to assist us to determine the future direction and content of the Police.uk site. The potential merits of including fraud data on crime maps will form part of this consultation with the National Fraud Investigation Bureau, Action Fraud and users of the site.

Crime: Mental Illness

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the role of crime agencies in caring for and supporting people with mental health problems.

Michael Penning: The Government published a national mental health Crisis Care Concordat on 18 February which was agreed by over 20 national stakeholders. The Concordat sets out the roles of criminal justice and health agencies in dealing with people with mental health needs. The Department of Health, supported by the Home Office and Mind, is encouraging local areas to sign up to the principles of the Concordat, with the expectation that all areas in England will have signed local declarations by December 2014.
	The Home Office is taking a range of action with partners across Government to improve the way people with mental health issues are supported when they come into contact with the police. We have set up street triage and liaison and diversion schemes so police officers can work alongside mental health nurses on patrol and in police stations. Also, the Home Office and Department of Health are reviewing sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act to ensure people with mental health problems are not unnecessarily held in police custody.
	The Home Secretary will be hosting a Policing and Mental Health Summit on 23 October. The event, jointly led with Black Mental Health UK, will focus on police interaction with those with mental health problems.

Cycling: Pedestrian Areas

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests and (b) cautions have been made in each of the last five years relating to cycling on pavements.

Norman Baker: The information requested on arrests is not held centrally by the Home Office.
	The number of offenders cautioned for offences of riding on the footway in England and Wales from 2009 to 2013, supplied by the Ministry of Justice, is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Offenders cautioned for offences relating to cycling on the footway, England and Wales, 2009 to 20131,2,3) 
			  Number 
			 2009 9 
			 2010 4 
			 2011 0 
			 2012 0 
		
	
	
		
			 2013 0 
			 1 An offence under S72 of the Highways Act 1835 2 The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When an offender has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. 3 From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Entry Clearances: Indian Subcontinent

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken was for a decision on a visa application in each category in (a) Mumbai and (b) Islamabad in the most recent period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: The table sets out the average time taken in days for decisions to be made on visa applications considered in Mumbai and Islamabad between 1 January and 31 March 2014, by category of application.
	
		
			  Post/Days 
			 Endorsement category Islamabad Mumbai 
			 EEA Family Permits 12.5 10.8 
			 Family Visit 30.2 5.4 
			 Other Non Settlement 16.7 5 
			 Other Visitor 8.2 4.8 
			 PBS Tier 1 12.7 10.7 
			 PBS Tier 2 13.9 4.4 
			 PBS Tier 4 14.2 10.4 
			 PBS Tier 5 9.1 18.5 
			 Settlement 73 29.9 
			 Transit 14 3.2 
			 Note: Average decision times for visas processed in Mumbai and Islamabad (1 January and 31 March 2014). A decision is where the application has been issued, refused, lapsed or withdrawn.

Homosexuality

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many men had convictions for offences related to consensual gay sex expunged from their criminal records in each year since 2012.

Karen Bradley: As of 9 September 2014 the number of individuals who have had convictions for offences related to consensual gay sex expunged from their criminal records in each year since 2012 are:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2012 0 
			 2013 38 
			 2014 13 
		
	
	There are three outstanding cases. Some individuals have made multiple applications.

Immigration

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of her Department's expenditure on the (a) immigration system once associated fee income has been deducted and (b) asylum system in each of the last three financial years for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Immigration system net costs 715,881 513,461 365,000 
			 Asylum costs 281,365 266,773 265,183 
		
	
	For the immigration system net costs, we show the cost of Immigration Overseas; Border Control; Immigration In Country and Enforcement directorates.
	For asylum costs, we show the asylum support costs within UK Visas and Immigration directorate.

Interception Warrants

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to her Defence and Security lecture on 24 June 2014 and to the estimated 20 cases dropped by the National Crime Agency, how many communication warrants were applied for in such cases; how many such requests were rejected by the telecommunication companies; and what reason was given for each such rejection.

James Brokenshire: Communications data is a vital tool needed by law enforcement agencies to investigate crime, protect the public and ensure national security. These agencies' capability to access this data when it is needed is degrading as a result of rapidly changing technology. The figures quoted in the speech at Mansion House on 24 June demonstrate the impact that capability gaps are having on investigations.
	With reference to the 13 incidents involving children, these cases could not be pursued because the data needed to identify them from their activities online was not available. The current status of these children is therefore unknown. Where the Single Point of Contact in a law enforcement agency knows that data is not held by the service provider in question, they will not process a request for the data in the first place (as it would not be an appropriate use of their powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000).

Journalism: Telephone Tapping

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in the last year powers under the Regulation of Investigators Powers Act 2000 have been used to access telephone records of journalists.

James Brokenshire: Law enforcement agencies do not routinely record the professions of individuals who have had their communications data accessed under the Regulation of Investigators Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), as there is no operational reason to do so. Furthermore, at the time that communications data are requested, the police may not be aware of the professions of those individuals that the requested data will relate to.
	Communications data can only be accessed under RIPA when it is necessary for one of the statutory purposes, for example for the prevention and detection of crime and proportionate to what is sought to be achieved. As well as having to be necessary and proportionate, there are additional safeguards provided by the statutory Acquisition of Communications Data Code of Practice 2007 and independent oversight provided by the independent Interception of Communications Commissioner. We are currently updating the statutory Code, including on whether additional consideration should be given to privileged information, such as from journalists or lawyers.

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) her Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: To comply with its duties under the Data Protection Act, the Department publishes senior salary information in £5,000 salary bands. For the given financial years, I can confirm the highest full-time equivalent salary paid falls within the following bands as shown in table 1. This also includes the lowest full time equivalent salary paid within the Home Office and HMPO.
	The highest and lowest full-time equivalent salaries for Home Office non-departmental public bodies are shown in table 2.
	Further details on Home Office senior salaries and non departmental public bodies can be found on the gov.uk website:
	
		
			 Table 1: The highest and lowest full time equivalent salaries for the Home Office and HMPO 
			 Financial year Highest Lowest 
			 2010-11 £185,000 to £189,999 £13,039 
			 2011-12 £210,000 to £214,999 £14,043 
			 2012-13 £210,000 to £214,999 £14,043 
			 2013-14 £210,000 to £214,999 £14,953 
			 2014-15 £180,000 to £184,999 £14,953 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: The highest and lowest full time equivalent salaries across all Home Office non-departmental public bodies 
			 Financial year Highest Lowest 
			 2010 £180,000 to £184,999 (SOCA) £13,152 (NPIA) 
			 2011 £180,000 to £184,999 (EHRC) £13,152 (NPIA) 
			 2012 £185,000 to £189,999 (EHRC) £13,152 (NPIA) 
			 2013 £145,000 to £149,999 (SOCA) £13,685 (DBS) 
			 2014 £120,000 to £124,999 (IPCC, SIA, DBS) £15,000 (OISC)

Police and Crime Commissioners: Pay

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the process is for setting remuneration for police and crime commissioners; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) makes an independent recommendation on police and crime commissioners’ pay for the Home Secretary’s decision.

Police Stations

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the closure and hours reductions of public counters at police stations.

Michael Penning: Decisions about the most effective use of available resources, including the number and operating hours of police stations and any disposal of such premises, are matters for the chief constables and police and crime commissioners.
	It is important not to confuse buildings with the availability and accessibility of the police. There are many good examples of forces doing far more with their money by finding new forms of public contact. These include the non-emergency number, 101, the internet and contact in places such as supermarket surgeries.

Police: Recruitment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what fitness criteria are set for recruits to the police service; and what measures are in place in the police service to assist police officers to lose weight if necessary.

Michael Penning: The standard fitness criteria for recruitment to the police service in England and Wales is that candidates must pass both an endurance fitness test and a dynamic strength test. The College of Policing has published guidance on the tests and a fitness training programme to assist potential recruits.
	The management of the health, safety and welfare of police officers, including wellbeing initiatives to assist officers to maintain a healthy weight, is the responsibility of the individual police forces.

Religious Hatred

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to tackle Islamophobia; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The coalition Government takes seriously all forms of hate crime, including anti-Muslim hatred, seriously and we have legislation in place to protect people from hostility, hatred and violence.
	In May, we published our refreshed cross-Government hate crime action plan—Challenge it, Report it, Stop it, setting out the progress we have made and further steps we will take to address the issue. Specific actions to tackle anti-Muslim hatred include supporting educational workshops for young people, running a series of regional roadshows across the country in the spring to engage with communities, and publishing new hate crime guidance for police officers which provides advice on dealing with anti-Muslim hatred.
	We also continue to support the work of cross-Government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, which includes community representatives, to identify what more can be done to prevent anti-Muslim hatred, and respond to any emerging issues.

Stop and Search: West Midlands

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what she anticipates will be achieved by the trial of the new stop and search scheme by West Mercia police.

Michael Penning: Police.uk currently allows the public to view detailed information about crime, antisocial behaviour and justice outcomes in their local area, displayed on street-level crime maps. The Government’s stop and search reforms will improve the transparency and accountability of the use of stop and search powers by extending mapping on Police.uk to include stop and search data.
	Ahead of national roll-out to all 43 forces, the West Mercia trial will test the use of Police.uk to publish stop and search information to the public and encourage user feedback. This will help address any technical issues and allow lessons to be learned on how transparent information on stop and search mapping should be presented. My officials and West Mercia police will work closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office, community groups and force independent advisory groups to do this.

Surveillance

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  with reference to her speech of 24 June 2014 at the Mansion House, in how many of the 13 threat-to-life cases which had to be dropped by the National Crime Agency because of missing communications data in which a child was assessed to be at risk of imminent harm those children are still at risk;
	(2)  how many cases have been dropped by the National Crime Agency due to insufficient or missing communications data to date.

James Brokenshire: Communications data are vital tools needed by law enforcement agencies to investigate crime, protect the public and ensure national security. These agencies’ capability to access these data when they are needed is degrading as a result of rapidly changing technology. The figures quoted in the speech at Mansion House on 24 June 2014 demonstrate the impact that capability gaps are having on investigations.
	With reference to the 13 incidents involving children, these cases could not be pursued because the data needed to identify them from their activities online were not available. The current status of these children is therefore unknown. Where the Single Point of Contact in a law enforcement agency knows that data are not held by the service provider in question, they will not process a request for the data in the first place (as it would not be an appropriate use of their powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000).

HEALTH

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of people were estimated to be binge-drinkers in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison: Information is not available in the format requested.
	Current Government recommendations are that adult men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day and adult women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units a day.
	The Office of National Statistics class heavy drinkers as those that drink more than six units in a day for women and more than eight units in a day for men (double the current lower risk guidelines) and this definition is often used as a proxy for “binge drinking”.
	Information is available for the percentage of men who drank more than eight units and women who drank more than six units on at least one day in the last week prior to the interview for the General Lifestyle Survey and the General Household Survey (The Office of National Statistics).
	
		
			  Percentage 
			 2006 19 
			 2007 20 
			 2008 18 
			 2009 16 
			 2010 15 
			 Source: The Office of National Statistics (General Lifestyle Survey and the General Household Survey)

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Government's Public Health Responsibility Deal in reducing alcohol-related harms.

Jane Ellison: The Department is committed to helping people live well for longer. The Responsibility Deal pledge to remove one billion units of alcohol from the market by the end of 2015 (a reduction of around 2%) has a role to play in supporting improvements in reducing alcohol-related harms. In the first year of this four year pledge, 253 million units of alcohol were taken out of the market. A copy of the report showing this analysis has already been placed in the Library.
	Because much alcohol-attributable harm occurs in middle or older age groups as a result of years of drinking above the lower-risk guidelines, even a relatively small reduction is likely to have a significant impact upon long-term and chronic illnesses.
	Improving consumer awareness can help people make informed choices about when and how much they drink. For advice on alcohol consumption to be meaningful, people need to be able to put it into the context of their own drinking habits. To increase awareness and understanding of alcohol units, the lower-risk drinking guidelines and the Chief Medical Officer’s advice on drinking during pregnancy, 92 companies committed to displaying this information on 80% of bottles and cans by the end of 2013.
	An independent market survey has been carried out which we expect to be published shortly. Subject to publication of the final report:
	On a market share based on the total numbers of bottles and cans (ie a distinct item), 79.3% of bottles and cans have this information.
	On a market share based on alcohol by volume, 69.9% of bottles and cans have this information.
	In addition to unit and health information on bottles and cans, pub chains and retailers committed to providing unit and health information. This year, Ipsos Mori carried out an independent survey of whether the public saw such information. 27% of the public said they saw a British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) or Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) unit awareness image; 41% of 18-24 year-olds recalled seeing at least one image; 27% saw something similar and 52% of those also saw BBPA or WSTA materials.

Animal Experiments

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of tests on animals conducted in the UK using mitochondrial replacement techniques in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: Experiments on animals have been performed over a number of years with the first successful pronuclear transfer (PNT) technique performed in mice in 1983 by McGrath and Solter. Maternal spindle transfer (MST) is a technique developed in the United States of America in 2009 and has been performed successfully in mice, non-human primates, as well as in sheep and cows. Research on both MST and PNT has been carried out successfully on human embryos. On-going studies of PNT and MST continue to be carried out on mice in the United Kingdom.
	An extensive review of the safety and efficacy of MST and PNT to prevent mitochondrial disease was completed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s Expert Scientific Panel, which includes detailed consideration of animal model studies and can be found on their website:
	www.hfea.gov.uk/docs/Third_Mitochondrial_replacement_scientific_review.pdf

Apprentices

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he and Ministers in his Department have had with Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the proposed reform of apprenticeships; what effect those discussions will have on his Department's projects and the work of their supply chain; and whether officials in his Department sit on programme boards managing the reform.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has had discussions with their counterparts at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on the development of a higher apprenticeship for nursing. Aside from this, the Department has had no other specific discussions with BIS on the subject of apprenticeship reforms in general. However, the Department of Health will be implementing the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme (CSFTAS) in October 2014. This scheme was commissioned by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Head of the Civil Service in October 2012. It is a cross-Government corporate scheme that sits alongside and complements the Civil Service Fast Stream Programme as another talent strand. As this is a cross-Government scheme, BIS would have been directly involved in this initiative.
	Managing future talent is a positive aim under the Civil Service Reform Plan and is a key enabler of organisation effectiveness and future delivery of our business.
	The CSFTAS demonstrates the Civil Service’s commitment to providing high quality opportunities for young people.
	The Department is also working with Cabinet Office colleagues in developing a commercial apprenticeship programme for the civil service.

Cancer

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on cancer services per capita in (a) real terms and (b) cash terms in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: The information is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Estimated expenditure on cancer services1, 2008-09 to 2012-13, in 2012-13 prices2 
			  Cancers and tumours total (£ billion)  
			  Real terms Cash Terms Per capita (£) 
			 2008-09 5.28 4.84 94.55 
			 2009-10 5.91 5.57 107.12 
			 2010-11 5.69 5.50 104.95 
			 2011-12 5.57 5.50 104.52 
			 2012-13 5.68 5.68 107.21 
			 1 Continual refinements have been made to the programme budgeting data calculation methodology since the first collection in 2003-04. The underlying data which support programme budgeting data are also subject to yearly changes. Programme budgeting data should therefore not be used to analyse changes in investment in specific service areas between years. 2 These figures have been calculated using published Aggregate Primary Care Trust Programme Budgeting Data and the gross domestic product deflator, as published at 29 March 2014. Sources: 1. Programme budgeting data, NHS England 2. Reference costs, Department of Health

Dementia

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of people over the age of 65 presented themselves to a clinician showing key symptoms of dementia in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

Norman Lamb: Data on the proportion of people over the age of 65 who presented themselves to a clinician showing key symptoms of dementia in 2013 and 2014 to date is not centrally held.

Dementia

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of people over the age of 65 were diagnosed with dementia after being admitted to hospital as an emergency inpatient in England in each year since 2009;
	(2)  how many deaf British Sign Language users over the age of 65 were diagnosed with dementia after being admitted to hospital as an emergency in-patient in England in each year since 2009.

Norman Lamb: Data on the proportion of people over the age of 65 diagnosed with dementia after being admitted to hospital as an emergency in-patient in England in each year since 2009 is not available as we are unable to determine whether a patient was diagnosed after being admitted to hospital including British sign language users.

Dementia

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on specialist assessment and diagnostic services for deaf British Sign Language users with dementia in each year since 2010.

Norman Lamb: Data on how much the National Health Service has spent on specialist assessment and diagnosis services for deaf people including British sign language users with dementia is not available. However the NHS is advised that it is good clinical practice to take into account a person's general health, including their hearing, when people are investigated and treated for dementia.

Dementia

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on dementia assessment for diagnostic purposes in each year since 2010.

Norman Lamb: Figures on how much the national health service spent on dementia assessment for diagnostic purposes in each year since 2010 is not collected centrally.

Dementia

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaf British Sign Language users over the age of 65 presented themselves to a clinician showing key symptoms of dementia in 2013-14.

Norman Lamb: Data on how many deaf British Sign Language users over the age of 65 who presented themselves to a clinician showing key symptoms of dementia in 2013 and 2014 to date is not centrally held.

Dementia

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on dementia training for NHS staff on services for deaf users of British Sign Language in the last year.

Norman Lamb: There is no specific funding for dementia training for national health service staff on services for deaf users of British Sign Language. It is for individual providers to make the necessary local arrangements. All NHS staff looking after people with dementia will go through a dementia awareness programme. Health Education England staff will provide Tier 1 training to an additional 250,000 staff by March 2015, and will ensure that the tools and training opportunities are available to all staff by the end of 2018.

Dementia

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what policies his Department has implemented to improve the dementia diagnosis rates of deaf British Sign Language users since 2010;
	(2)  what the current NHS pathway is for deaf British Sign Language users to obtain a formal dementia diagnosis;
	(3)  what targets the Government has set to improve the dementia diagnosis rates of deaf British Sign Language users in the next five years.

Norman Lamb: There has been no specific policy with regards to dementia diagnosis in relation to deaf British Sign Language users. However increasing diagnosis rates in general is a key priority in the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia.
	NHS England has set the first ever national ambition to improve dementia diagnosis rates. By March 2015, our aim is that two-thirds of people with dementia receive a diagnosis and appropriate post diagnostic support.

Diabetes: Children

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what change there has been in the number of children diagnosed with diabetes between 2005 and 2013.

Jane Ellison: This information is not collected centrally.
	The Health and Social Care Information Centre collects information via the National Diabetes Audit and reports on the provision of core diabetes care. However this does not include a full picture of the number of children diagnosed with diabetes.
	It is worth noting that around 97% of children with diabetes have type 1, which is unrelated to lifestyle factors.

Drugs: Young People

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of young people hospitalised as a result of legal highs in each year since May 2010.

Jane Ellison: The information that is collected centrally on hospital admissions for drug poisoning includes poisoning from ‘legal highs’ or new psychoactive substances (NPS), but there is no separate classification for this type of drug. It is not therefore possible to separate out admissions from NPS from other types of drugs.

Fertility: Medical Treatments

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on each method of fertility treatment in the last 12 months.

Jane Ellison: This information is not held centrally.

Health

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many local authorities have (a) submitted satisfactory Statements of Assurance, (b) submitted unsatisfactory Statements of Assurance and (c) failed to submit Statements of Assurance for the Public Health Grant for 2013-14;

Jane Ellison: With regard to the first year of the ring fenced grant, 2013-14, Public Health England (PHE) requested Statements of Assurance on two occasions.
	A preliminary Statement of Assurance with a deadline in May 2014 was requested from the 152 local authorities in receipt of a ring fenced grant. PHE received a satisfactory Statement of Assurance from all 152 local authorities.
	A final Statement of Assurance with a deadline of 30 September 2014 has been requested from the 152 local authorities in receipt of a ring fenced grant. As this deadline has yet to be reached, we cannot yet report. PHE is receiving statements in on a daily basis and assessing the statements to ensure that they are satisfactory.

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people waiting for a (a) hip replacement, (b) cataract operation and (c) knee replacement in May (i) 2010 and (ii) 2014 were on the incomplete waiting list or zero to one week..

Jane Ellison: The information is not collected in the format requested. Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times are collected separately for 18 high volume treatment functions (divisions of clinical work based on main specialty), but not for individual procedures such as hip or knee replacements or cataract operations. Such information as is available is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Patients waiting to start treatment at the end of May 2010 and May 2014 in trauma and orthopaedic and ophthalmology treatment functions 
			  May 2010 May 2014 
			 Treatment function Total patients waiting to start treatment (incomplete pathways) Of which, patients waiting 0 to 1 weeks to start treatment Total patients waiting to start treatment (incomplete pathways) Of which, patients waiting 0 to 1 weeks to start treatment 
			 Trauma and orthopaedics 385,614 34,106 404,430 28,944 
			 Ophthalmology 280,136 24,589 326,453 22,346

In Vitro Fertilisation

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the authorisation of mitochondrial transfer techniques on the incidence of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that if mitochondria donation was permitted in treatment it is not anticipated that this will impact on the incidence of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome.

In Vitro Fertilisation

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the increase in the number of donor eggs that is needed to make mitochondrial transfer techniques practicable.

Jane Ellison: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that it has made no estimate of the number of donor eggs needed for mitochondrial replacement treatment.

Infant Mortality

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of recent trends in annual statistics on unexplained deaths in infancy; what steps his Department is taking to encourage further reductions in the rates of such deaths; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: Any death of a baby is tragic; unexplained deaths are especially distressing for the families.
	The Government is pleased the unexplained infant death rate has reduced and will continue to work to further reduce the risk of sudden infant death. The Department has included advice about the risk of sudden infant death in the Healthy Child Programme, the universal programme for all children from the start of life. Through the programme, health visitors provide advice and support to help parents care better for their child, including information on sudden infant death such as advice on sleeping positions and co-sleeping and room temperature. We are committed to having an extra 4,200 extra health visitors by 2015.
	In addition, comprehensive advice for parents about reducing the risk of cot death is available on the NHS Choices website. The website provides a wealth of information relating to pregnancy, maternity and the early years, including an interactive Pregnancy Care Planner, the Birth to Five guide and a range of videos. This information is linked to by the Start4Life/NHS Information Service for Parents, a free digital service for parents which provides regular national health service and other quality assured advice for both mothers and fathers on a wide range of issues including how to reduce the risk of cot death.
	We have made reducing infant mortality an area of improvement for the NHS in the NHS Outcomes Framework. Reducing infant mortality is also highlighted as an outcome indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework.

Maternity Services

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the findings of the recent Royal College of Midwives report, Postnatal Care Planning; and what steps he is taking to address shortages of midwives and ensure that the care received is based on clinical need of the mother.

Daniel Poulter: All women should receive excellent maternity care that focuses on the best outcomes for them and their babies. We are committed to improving choice of place of birth, continuity of care and women’s experience of care. To assist, the Department asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop a quality standard for postnatal care, which was published in July 2013.
	To help achieve this, the Government is committed to increasing the number of midwives. The most recent data, October 2013, shows that the number of midwives has increased at twice the rate of the number of births, by more than 6%, since May 2010. The latest figures (21 August 2014) show that there are currently 21,870 midwives, 1,738 more than in May 2010. Additionally, there are over 6,000 more midwives in training.
	We have committed to maintaining current training numbers for 2014-15 and 2015-16. We have also set out clear objectives for NHS England and for Health Education England in our mandates to them to ensure that the maternity workforce has the right knowledge and training to look after women’s health according to the best clinical practice.
	In addition, every woman is able to give feedback on the quality of the maternity care they receive through the Friends and Family Test, and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted a survey of women’s experience of maternity services, including postnatal care, in October last year. Providers and commissioners of maternity services will wish to use the results from the Friends and Family Test and the CQC survey to identify areas where further action is needed to improve services.

Midwives

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to implement the recommendations of Midwives 2020: Delivering Expectations, published in September 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: My hon. Friend will be pleased to note that we have also increased the number of midwives by over 1,700 or 8.6% since May 2010 and we have made a commitment to ensure that the number of midwives in training is matched to the birth rate. This is now happening and there are over 6,000 more midwives in training to qualify over the next three years.
	‘Midwifery 2020: Delivering Expectation’ was consulted and compiled upon during 2009 prior to its publication in 2010, by the then Chief Nursing Officers of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The report is regarded as guidance rather than as policy document.
	Of greater relevance to policy is the document ‘Midwifery Matters: Choice Access and Continuity of Care’ in a Safe Service first published in 2007 and reviewed again in 2011. This document has its origins with the ‘National service framework: children, young people and maternity services’ (2004) and provides a continuum with regards to the key principles also outlined in the ‘Midwifery 2020’ document.
	With the creation of the new national health service infrastructure, the NHS Mandate also outlines the central premise of choice and continuity of care and further underlines the requirement for women-centred care with the reference to personalised maternity services.
	The Mandate between the Government and NHS England states that every woman should have a named midwife who is responsible for ensuring she has personalised, one-to-one care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and during the postnatal period.
	NHS England is delivering this objective as part of its business priorities for 2014-15. All women will have access to a named midwife by March 2015.
	NHS England has also introduced the Friend and Family Test across maternity services. This together with the NHS Outcomes Framework quality measures for maternity will drive quality improvement to better meet the needs of women.
	The Department and NHS England are also making good progress in implementing the six core values, known as the 6Cs, in the ‘Compassion in Practice nursing and midwifery strategy’, published in December 2012. The majority of trusts have adopted the 6Cs as part of their nursing and midwifery strategies.
	Health Education England is leading the Personalised Maternity Care Project which is exploring how achievable the ‘Midwifery’ 2020 vision is—both in the short term and by 2022. It triangulates the views of commissioners, service providers, the universities providing midwifery education, lay and user groups. Other professions working in maternity care have also contributed to this scoping project. Health Education England will publish the report later this autumn.
	These initiatives are making good progress in achieving the principles of the Midwifery 2020 report, in England.

NHS: Private Patients

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many privately-funded (a) knee replacement procedures, (b) hip replacement procedures and (c) cataract operations were conducted in NHS hospitals in England in each year since 2009-10.

Jane Ellison: In the table, we have provided information concerning the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)1 with a main or secondary procedure2 of knee replacement, hip replacement and cataract surgery, where the patient is a private patient treated in a national health service hospital, for the period 2009-10 to 2012-133.
	1 A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.
	2 The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 (12 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and 4 prior to 2002-03) procedure fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure. For example, patients undergoing a ‘cataract operation’ would tend to have at least two procedures– removal of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new one – counted in a single episode.
	3 HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care.
	
		
			  Knee Replacement Hip Replacement Cataract Surgery 
			 2009-10 649 1,015 2,735 
			 2010-11 558 967 2,852 
			 2011-12 610 1,021 3,149 
			 2012-13 565 934 3,172 
			 Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Nurses

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many acute, elderly and general nurses were employed in (a) each NHS region and (b) each Agenda for Change band in (i) May 2010 and (ii) May 2014;
	(2)  how many nurses were employed in each Agenda for Change band in (a) May 2010 and (b) May 2014;
	(3)  how many nurses were employed in each NHS region in May (a) 2010 and (b) 2014.

Daniel Poulter: The provisional monthly national health service hospital and community health service workforce statistics, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, show the numbers of nurses and the numbers of acute, elderly and general nurses by NHS region working in the NHS in England and can be broken down by Agenda for Change (AfC) band.
	In May 2014 there were 175,235 full-time equivalent acute, elderly and general nurses working in the NHS in England, which is over 6,300 more since May 2010.
	The numbers of nurses and the numbers of acute, elderly and general nurses by NHS region and by AfC band in May 2010 and May 2014 are shown in the attached table.
	
		
			 NHS hospital and community health services provisional monthly statistics: Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff by Health Education England region and Agency for Change band as at 31 May 2010 
			 Full-time equivalent 
			  England Health Education East Midlands Health Education East of England Health Education Yorkshire and the Humber Health Education Wessex Health Education Thames Valley Health Education North West London Health Education South London 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 310,793 23,730 28,322 33,279 14,323 10,777 13,662 17,843 
			 Band 1 6 2 — 1 — — — — 
			 Band 2 223 51 20 11 — 1 14 13 
		
	
	
		
			 Band 3 493 72 83 11 4 — 20 41 
			 Band 4 602 18 118 10 8 15 63 25 
			 Band 5 147,446 12,027 13,288 16,761 7,280 5,268 5,357 7,489 
			 Band 6 93,075 7,073 7,818 9,541 4,075 3,276 4,679 5,846 
			 Band 7 51,965 3,560 4,658 4,928 2,256 1,781 2,554 3,283 
			 Band 8a 10,360 651 874 1,013 412 274 609 792 
			 Band 8b 3,185 176 308 281 153 103 233 190 
			 Band 8c 1,034 47 80 103 61 35 77 101 
			 Band 8d 244 15 29 27 5 6 31 14 
			 Band 9 45 3 3 3 5 4 5 2 
			 Not known 2,117 36 1,043 590 65 14 19 48 
			          
			 Of which:         
			 Acute elderly and general 168,911 12,395 15,492 17,830 8,437 6,217 7,608 9,579 
			 Band 1 6 2 — 1 — — — — 
			 Band 2 145 24 10 11 — 1 6 11 
			 Band 3 289 56 68 6 3 — 16 31 
			 Band 4 204 5 43 7 7 4 55 4 
			 Band 5 97,939 7,704 8,887 10,908 5,210 3,659 3,261 4,789 
			 Band 6 37,565 2,540 2,934 3,635 1,699 1,390 2,534 2,501 
			 Band 7 24,320 1,668 2,118 2,222 1,150 944 1,243 1,654 
			 Band 8a 4,734 261 412 391 205 128 304 424 
			 Band 8b 1,456 83 148 90 78 59 114 93 
			 Band 8c 490 29 37 40 35 24 41 54 
			 Band 8d 128 9 16 10 3 2 21 5 
			 Band 9 20 2 1 — 1 2 4 2 
			 Not known 1,615 13 819 510 45 5 10 12 
		
	
	
		
			  Health Education North Central and East London Health Education Kent, Surrey and Sussex Health Education North East Health Education North West Health Education West Midlands Health Education South West Special health authorities and other statutory bodies 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 20,247 20,576 19,692 49,087 33,377 24,213 1,667 
			 Band 1 — 3 — — — — — 
			 Band 2 9 28 5 38 21 11 — 
			 Band 3 78 30 16 57 57 23 — 
			 Band 4 66 48 31 101 41 57 — 
			 Band 5 8,075 9,647 10,150 23,709 16,014 12,360 22 
			 Band 6 6,542 6,163 5,358 13,953 10,266 7,329 1,154 
			 Band 7 4,090 3,674 3,361 8,577 5,409 3,504 330 
			 Band 8a 882 657 542 1,861 1,054 620 119 
			 Band 8b 295 227 141 513 342 205 17 
			 Band 8c 141 63 46 124 89 59 8 
			 Band 8d 24 16 13 32 15 18 1 
			 Band 9 9 — — 2 5 2 2 
			 Not known 35 17 29 121 64 25 13 
			         
			 Of which:        
			 Acute elderly and general 11,550 11,154 10,378 25,760 17,763 13,977 770 
			 Band 1 — 3 — — — — — 
			 Band 2 9 16 1 34 17 5 — 
		
	
	
		
			 Band 3 59 17 1 5 7 20 — 
			 Band 4 1 8 2 43 9 17 — 
			 Band 5 5,512 6,517 6,690 15,536 10,569 8,691 6 
			 Band 6 3,377 2,390 1,855 5,202 4,097 3,060 350 
			 Band 7 1,938 1,702 1,487 3,804 2,364 1,756 268 
			 Band 8a 406 324 241 761 467 291 118 
			 Band 8b 137 124 62 233 141 77 16 
			 Band 8c 63 33 11 43 41 34 8 
			 Band 8d 18 11 9 7 7 10 1 
			 Band 9 5 — — 0 — 1 2 
			 Not known 24 8 19 91 43 16 1 
			 ‘—‘ denotes zero. Notes: 1. Full-time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 2. These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave. 3. The Health Education England regions did not exist in 2010 but data for 2010 have been mapped onto them to permit comparison. 4. SCBUs are Special Care Baby Units. Monthly data: As from 21 July 2010 the Health and Social Care Information Centre has published provisional monthly NHS workforce data. As expected with provisional statistics, some figures may be revised from month to month as issues are uncovered and resolved. The monthly workforce data is not directly comparable with the annual workforce census; it only includes those staff on the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) (i.e. it does not include primary care staff or bank staff). There are also new methods of presenting data (headcount methodology is different and there is now a role count). This information is available from September 2009 onwards at the following website: www.hscic.gov.uk Agenda for Change (AfC) note: AfC pay band data: There is no direct systematic link between pay band and occupation code within the ESR system from which this data is derived. As a consequence of local data quality issues there are a small number of records where pay bands 1-4 are associated with qualified nurse occupation codes contrary to what we would expect, whereby qualified nursing staff are employed at band 5 and above. Though we work with individual organisations to try and remove such data quality issues the figures should be viewed as an estimate, rather than an exact accounting standard. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Provisional Monthly Workforce Statistics.

Prisons: Mental Health Services

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mental healthcare provision is available for prison inmates in England; what assessment he has made of the performance and adequacy of this provision; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger) on 7 July 2014, Official Report, columns 45-46W.

Vaccination

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  in which areas NHS England commissioned immunisation services from community pharmacies in the 2013-14 financial year; what estimate he has made of the number of community pharmacies which were commissioned to deliver immunisation services in each area; what estimate he has made of the number of doses of vaccine which were delivered though community pharmacies in the 2013-14 financial year in each area; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how community pharmacies are paid for the delivery of immunisation services in each area of the UK where NHS England commissions them to do so.

George Freeman: Information is not held centrally by NHS England on immunisation services commissioned locally from community pharmacists.
	NHS England has advised that such immunisation services are commissioned by NHS England, through service level agreements, as local enhanced services within the community pharmacy contractual framework. As this type of service is commissioned according to local need, actual payments will vary.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Apprentices

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions he and Ministers in his Department have had with Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the proposed reform of apprenticeships; what effect those discussions will have on his Department's projects and the work of their supply chain; and whether officials in his Department sit on programme boards managing that reform.

Helen Grant: DCMS has been engaged with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on apprenticeship reforms, in particular on the tourism industry and creative industries. The second phase of Apprenticeship Trailblazers includes Professional Chefing, and Hospitality and Tourism Supervisors and Managers. I also launched and co-chair a Tourism Industry Council with the Minister for Skills and Equalities, Nick Boles. The Council’s aim is to improve skills, qualifications and apprenticeships within the sector and will include engagement with the apprenticeship reform scheme.
	There are now more than 4,200 apprenticeships in the creative industries, plus more than 45,000 apprenticeships in ICT. The cinema industry, crafts and newspaper and broadcast media sectors are all taking part in the second phase of the Apprenticeship Trailblazers.

BBC Trust

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport other than the members of the BBC Trust appointed to represent specific nations, how many of the existing Trust members have their main home outside London.

Edward Vaizey: The BBC Trust have advised that other than the members of the BBC Trust appointed to represent specific nations, one other Trust member's main home is outside London. Therefore, in total five of the eleven existing trustees have their main home outside London.

Broadband

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps he is taking to promote competition in the provision of 4G services.

Edward Vaizey: The UK has a highly competitive mobile market offering consumers some of the best choice and value in Europe. Ofcom's design of the 2013 spectrum auction supported a competitive market with four wholesale mobile network operators. All of the operators have launched their services and there are now upwards of 5 million subscribers to 4G services in the UK. Despite only one of the operators having a coverage obligation on their licence to be met by 2017, all of the operators have announced their intention to reach 98% of the UK population by the end of 2015. The Government has taken steps to reduce the cost of rollout of mobile infrastructure including through planning reforms introduced in summer 2013 and we are considering what more can be done.

Direct Selling

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent steps his Department has taken to provide protection to people suffering from nuisance telephone calls.

Edward Vaizey: The issue of nuisance calls is a priority for the Department and we are pursuing a range of options for reform. This includes both legislative and non-legislative measures, which will help to better protect consumers. On 30 March 2014, we published our Nuisance Calls Action Plan that includes proposals for legislation to enable Ofcom to share information more easily with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The measure became effective on 15 July and will help in ICO’s efforts to take more enforcement action against companies that deliberately continue to break the rules. Also, we will shortly consult to lower the legal threshold that will enable ICO to take more enforcement action against organisations that breach the regulations, including those that currently manage to avoid having monetary penalties issued to them. Further details about the range of work that has been completed and is also underway is outlined in the Action Plan, which can be viewed at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled

Football: Homophobia

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the number of homophobic incidents that have occurred in professional football in each year since 2010; and what steps he is taking to improve access to football for LGBT people.

Helen Grant: The FA have been recording cases of antidiscrimination centrally since the start of the 2013/14 season, cases having previously been recorded by County FAs. The 2013/14 season showed 587 antidiscrimination cases in total of which 8% were in respect of sexual orientation.
	DCMS and The FA take matters of discrimination very seriously: any form of racism, anti-Semitism or homophobia is completely unacceptable. Following the 2012 Downing Street summit on racism in football, The FA are now delivering against a whole sport Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Plan called “Football’s for Everyone” to build equality and inclusion in football. I welcome this commitment, and specific initiatives, such as “Football vs Homophobia”. The FA Inclusion Advisory Board reports quarterly to DCMS on progress.

Television: Licensing

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will bring forward proposals to enable people who are registered blind to receive a discount on their television licence in the same way that people who are deaf do.

Edward Vaizey: Those registered blind/severely sight impaired are eligible for a 50% reduction on the TV Licence Fee (further information on this concession can be found at:
	http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/blindseverely-sight-impaired-aud5).
	There is currently no concession for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. BBC Charter Review is the point at which government can consider all aspects of the BBC, including the licence fee. The Government will not begin Charter Review within this parliament.

Tourism

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will ensure that a single Minister in his Department is responsible for tourism.

Helen Grant: I am the Minister for Tourism. As such all tourism related matters fall within my remit.

EDUCATION

Adoption

Ian Paisley Jnr: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps her Department has taken to support parents and children who were victims of forced adoptions in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Edward Timpson: I have a great deal of sympathy for those parents and children who were affected by pressures, during the post-war years, to give children up for adoption. Since the 1970s there have been major shifts in the way society sees the family, single mothers, and the needs of children and successive Governments have done much to collectively resolve the social ills of the past. Society has become less judgmental and it is now, rightly, no longer considered a stigma for an unmarried mother to keep her baby.
	The importance of facilitating greater openness in adoption has been recognised for a number of years. Adopted adults have the legal right to see their birth certificate and their adoption file in order to find out about their family history and the circumstances in which they were adopted. Both adopted adults and their birth relatives are able to apply to intermediary agencies for assistance with tracing family members. Intermediary agencies also provide counselling, support, and advice to adopted adults and birth relatives. Further changes through the Children and Families Act 2014 will extend the provision of intermediary agencies to assist a wider category of relatives, including the children and grandchildren of adopted adults, to help trace relatives and find out about their family history.I have a great deal of sympathy for those parents and children who were affected by pressures, during the post-war years, to give children up for adoption. Since the 1970s there have been major shifts in the way society sees the family, single mothers, and the needs of children and successive governments have done much to collectively resolve the social ills of the past. Society has become less judgemental and it is now, rightly, no longer considered a stigma for an unmarried mother to keep her baby.
	The importance of facilitating greater openness in adoption has been recognised for a number of years. Adopted adults have the legal right to see their birth certificate and their adoption file in order to find out about their family history and the circumstances in which they were adopted. Both adopted adults and their birth relatives are able to apply to intermediary agencies for assistance with tracing family members. Intermediary agencies also provide counselling, support, and advice to adopted adults and birth relatives. Further changes through the Children and Families Act 2014 will extend the provision of intermediary agencies to assist a wider category of relatives, including the children and grandchildren of adopted adults, to help trace relatives and find out about their family history.

Children in Care

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether her Department's response to the consultation on Looked-after children: improving permanence, will include undertaking to strengthen regulations to provide that a robust assessment takes place to ensure that children only return home from care when it is safe to do so.

Edward Timpson: The Improving Permanence for Looked-after Children consultation included proposals to amend the processes local authorities must undertake when children return home from care.
	Any reforms must strike the right balance between clarity in the statutory framework and professional judgment on the part of social workers and local authorities in meeting the needs of children. Some respondents questioned how these proposals would fit with existing statutory guidance in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013. The Government is grateful for these comments and is looking again at some of the proposals. Department for Education officials have convened a meeting of the relevant expert group on 9 September 2014 to discuss these issues.

Employment: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when she expects her Department to meet its target of all 16 year olds being in employment, education or training.

Nicholas Boles: The Government has made good progress in increasing the proportion of 16-year-olds who are participating in education and training (which includes those combining employment with training). The latest figures,1 published on 25 June 2014, show that 93.8% of 16-year-olds were participating in education or work-based learning at the end of 2013, which is the highest figure since consistent records began in 1994. This represents an increase of 2.8 percentage points on the previous year, the largest increase observed over this period.
	1 Participation in education, training and employment, age 16 to 18 statistical first release:
	www.gov.uk/government/statistics/participation-in-education-training-and-employment-age-16-to-18
	The Government will continue to encourage further improvements in participation and plans to spend £7.2 billion in 2014-15 to fund an education and training place for every 16- and 17-year-old who wants one. However, there will always be a small proportion of young people who are not in education, employment and training (NEET) due to personal circumstances such as illness.

Free Schools

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which free schools are currently open; and what the admission number of each school was planned for September 2014.

Edward Timpson: A list of all open free schools is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-schools-successful-applications-and-open-schools-2014
	Details of planned admissions numbers are not generally held centrally so we do not have the figures for free schools that opened in 2013 or earlier. However, we do have the figures for the free schools that have opened this month. This information is as follows:
	
		
			 Name of school Planned admissions numbers 
			 Ascot Road Community Free School 60 
		
	
	
		
			 Aspire Academy 88 
			 Aspire Academy 150 
			 Beal Business Innovation Hub 20 
			 Bolton Wanderers Free School 200 
			 Braywick Court School 28 
			 Burnley High School 90 
			 Canary Wharf College 2 60 
			 Chapeltown Academy 150 
			 Chetwynde School 426 
			 Cobham Free School Senior Department 72 
			 CUL Academy 35 
			 Dawes Lane Academy 135 
			 Discovery School 360 
			 Ditton Park Academy 120 
			 Dixons McMillan Academy 112 
			 DV8 Academy 200 
			 East London Academy of Music 75 
			 Eden Boys' School, Bolton 150 
			 Eden Girls' School, Coventry 150 
			 Eden Girls' School, Waltham Forest 150 
			 Eden School 24 
			 Education Links 71 
			 Essa Primary School 90 
			 Evendons Primary School 100 
			 Exeter Mathematics School 60 
			 Fulham Boys School 120 
			 Goresbrook School 90 
			 Harris Academy Tottenham 240 
			 Harris Invictus Academy Croydon 180 
			 Harris Primary Academy East Dulwich 60 
			 Harris Primary Academy Mayflower 90 
			 Harris Primary Academy Shortlands 60 
			 Harris Westminster Sixth Form 170 
			 Holy Trinity School 468 
			 Holyport College 120 
			 Ingleby Manor Free School & Sixth Form 100 
			 INSPIRE Free Special School 50 
			 Isaac Newton Primary Academy 90 
			 Ixworth Free School 360 
			 Jane Austen College 280 
			 Jubilee Primary School 30 
			 Jupiter Community Free School 60 
			 King's College London Specialist Maths School 60 
			 La Fontaine Academy 120 
			 Lanchester Community Free School 60 
			 LIPA Primary School 52 
			 London Enterprise Academy 120 
			 Lynch Hill Enterprise Academy 120 
			 Malcolm Arnold Preparatory School 60 
			 Marylebone Boys' School 120 
			 Meridian Angel Primary School 150 
			 Michaela Community School 120 
			 North Somerset Enterprise and Technology College 200 
			 Nottingham Free School 90 
			 Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology 150 
			 Oasis Academy Silvertown 90 
			 Park Community School 60 
			 Paxton Academy Sports and Science 90 
		
	
	
		
			 Perry Beeches IV - The Free School 133 
			 Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Blackburn 997 
			 Salisbury Sixth Form College 200 
			 Seva School 175 
			 St Mary's Church of England Primary School 30 
			 St Wilfrid's Academy 134 
			 Steiner Academy Bristol 78 
			 The Aspire Academy 97 
			 The Earl's Court Free School Primary 30 
			 The Elland Academy 135 
			 The Family School London 15 
			 The Gatwick School 180 
			 The Heights Primary School 75 
			 The Island Free School 125 
			 The Rise School 40 
			 The Ruth Gorse Academy 95 
			 Trinity Academy 120 
			 Wac Arts Free School 36 
			 Whitehall Park School 56 
			 XP. School 50

Free Schools

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which Free Schools are pre-approved to open; and what the planned admission number is for each school in the first year of opening.

Edward Timpson: A list of the free schools that are currently approved to the pre-opening stage is provided as follows, together with the proposed planned admissions number (PAN) for the first year of opening.
	These planned admission numbers may change prior to opening in some cases.
	
		
			 Name of free school approved into the pre-opening stage Proposed PAN 
			 Akaal Primary School 60 
			 ARK Byron Primary Academy (formerly ARK Ealing Primary Academy) 60 
			 ARK Croydon Primary Academy 90 
			 ARK Croydon Secondary Academy 180 
			 ARK North Enfield Academy 270 
			 ARK Pioneer Academy 90 
			 Belham Free School 90 
			 Burlington Danes Primary Academy 60 
			 Canary Wharf College 3 80 
			 City Gateway Hackney 95 
			 City Gateway Newham 95 
			 Crystal Palace Primary School 60 
			 Drapers' Maylands Primary School 60 
			 Ealing Fields High School 120 
			 East Cheshire Youth Achievement Free School 40 
			 EBN Free School Phase 2 70 
			 Eden Boys' School, Birmingham 150 
			 Eden Boys' School, Preston 150 
			 Eden Girls' School, Slough 150 
			 Elements Primary School 60 
			 Elliott Hudson College 520 
			 Falcons’ Primary School 90 
			 Gateway Academy 100 
			 Gladstone School 120 
		
	
	
		
			 Hackney New Primary School 50 
			 Hackney Wick Academy 150 
			 Halley House (formerly Dalston) Free Primary School 60 
			 Harperbury Free School 120 
			 Harris Chafford Hundred Secondary Free School 180 
			 Harris Primary Academy Beckenham 60 
			 Harris Primary Free School Nunhead 60 
			 Harris Primary Free School Tottenham Hale 270 
			 Hoe Valley Free School 120 
			 Hunsley Primary School 30 
			 International Academy of Greenwich 100 
			 Khalsa Engineering Academy 60 
			 Kilburn Grange School 60 
			 King Solomon International Business school 150 
			 Kingston Community School 60 
			 LIPA Sixth Form College 120 
			 Luton Girls' Academy 120 
			 Maiden Erlegh School in Reading 180 
			 Mendip School, The 34 
			 Milton Keynes Free School 45 
			 NAS Church Lawton School 33 
			 NAS Vanguard School 33 
			 Oasis Academy Romford 60 
			 Pentland Special School 32 
			 Perry Beeches - The Primary School I 100 
			 Perry Beeches V - The Free School 360 
			 Perry Beeches VI - The Free School 360 
			 Polam Hall School 158 
			 Powerlist Post 16 Leadership College 300 
			 Ramsgate Free School 60 
			 Richmond Bridge Primary School 60 
			 Richmond upon Thames College Free School 150 
			 Riverside Special School 42 
			 Sidney Stringer Primary Academy 60 
			 St Mary's CE Primary School 60 
			 STEM Academy Croydon Gateway 230 
			 Surbiton Primary School 60 
			 Temple Learning Academy 60 
			 The Ashworth Preparatory School (formally Lodge Park) 60 
			 The Bridge Integrated Learning Space 20 
			 The Edge Academy 60 
			 The Kingston Academy (formerly North Kingston) 180 
			 The Langley Academy Primary 90 
			 The Legatum Academy 240 
			 The University of Birmingham School and Sixth Form 290 
			 The University of Cambridge Training School 120 
			 Turing House School 150 
			 Twickenham Primary School 60 
			 Unity Community Primary 56 
			 Walthamstow Primary Academy 60 
			 West Didsbury CE Primary School 60 
			 West Reading Education Network (WREN) Secondary School 168 
			 Wolverhampton Vocational Training Centre 25

Free Schools

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which Free Schools that had planned to open in September 2014 have had their opening delayed (a) since they were pre-approved and (b) since 1 March 2014.

Edward Timpson: Free school projects are not approved to open in any specific year. The ‘planned opening date’ may change during pre-opening, sometimes at the request of proposers. These changes are part of the normal process of setting up new schools.
	10 free schools that planned to open in September 2014 were deferred before 1 March 2014:
	1. Burlington Danes Primary Academy
	2. City Gateway Hackney
	3. City Gateway Newham
	4. NAS Church Lawton School
	5. NAS Vanguard School
	6. The Bridge Integrated Learning Space
	7. The Kingston Academy
	8. The University of Birmingham School and Sixth Form
	9. Walthamstow Primary Academy
	10. West Reading Education Network (WREN) Secondary School
	14 free schools that planned to open in September 2014 were deferred after 1 March 2014:
	1. ARK Byron Primary Academy
	2. ARK North Enfield Academy
	3. ARK Pioneer Academy
	4. Falcons Primary School
	5. Gateway Academy
	6. Gladstone School
	7. Harperbury Free School
	8. Harris Primary Academy Beckenham
	9. Khalsa Engineering Academy
	10. Milton Keynes Free School
	11. Oasis Academy Romford
	12. Pentland Special School
	13. The Legatum Academy
	14. Turing House School

Free Schools

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which free schools that had planned to open in (a) September 2011, (b) September 2012, (c) September 2013 and (d) September 2014 have had their funding withdrawn between their intended day of opening and 1 March in that year.

Edward Timpson: The free school projects that have been cancelled or have asked to withdraw from pre-opening between 1 March and the planned day of opening in that year are listed below.
	
		
			  School 
			 2012 Chorley Career and Sixth Form Academy 
			  Newham Free Academy 
			   
			 2013 The Bristol Primary School 
			  The Leeds Retail and Financial Services Academy 
			  Northern Lights 
			  Rainbow Schools (Nottingham) 
			   
			 2014 On Track Chiltern 
			  The Advance School, Norbury

Health Education: Sex

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the current provision for sex and relationship education in schools in England; if she will update her Department's sex education guidance to reflect the effects of children being exposed to pornography over the internet; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Sex and relationship education (SRE) is compulsory in maintained secondary schools. Academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. Following the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education review, which concluded in March 2013, the Government decided that the current Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000) offers a framework for schools to build upon the delivery of high quality SRE.
	The SRE guidance makes clear that teachers should refer to expert organisations for well-informed advice and resources. The PSHE Association, the Sex Education Forum and Brook published supplementary advice in 2014 addressing changes in technology and legislation since 2000. This equips teachers to help protect children and young people from inappropriate online content, and from online bullying, harassment and exploitation. The Government encourages schools to make use of this guidance.

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) her Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The information requested for the Department for Education is set out in the table. The Department does not hold salary information for its public bodies.
	To preserve individual confidentiality, a band rather than an amount has been provided for the highest salary.
	
		
			 £ 
			  Highest Full-time Equivalent Salary Paid Lowest Full-time Equivalent Salary Paid 
			 2010-11 180,000—185,000 15,266 
			 2011-12 140,000—145,000 15,516 
			 2012-13 155,000—160,000 15,766 
			 2013-14 160,000—165,000 17,804 
			 2014-15 (up to 31 August 2014) 160,000—165,000 18,104

Pupils: Attendance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what sanctions are available to local authorities to encourage parents to ensure that children begin school on time each day.

Nick Gibb: A pupil who arrives for a morning or afternoon session after registration has closed is marked absent for that session. For pupils of compulsory school age (5 to 16 years), local authorities can address such absences if a parent has failed to secure their child’s regular school attendance through use of the sanctions of penalty notices or prosecution leading to a fine. Before prosecuting parents, a local authority should consider whether it would be appropriate to apply for an education supervision order to ensure that the child is properly educated.
	Other legal measures available to local authorities and schools to tackle irregular attendance are parenting contracts and parenting orders. A parenting contract is an agreement between a parent and either the local authority or the governing body of a school for the parent to comply for a given period with whatever requirements are set out in the contract to improve their child’s attendance at school. A parenting order may be imposed by a court requiring a parent to comply with requirements specified in the order to improve their child’s school attendance.
	Information about these sanctions and measures is included in the Department for Education’s statutory guidance “Parental responsibility measures for school attendance and behaviour”. This is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/parental-responsibility-measures-for-behaviour-and-attendance

Schools: Homophobia

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what targets the Government has set for tackling homophobia in schools; and what steps have been taken to achieve those targets in the last 12 months.

Nick Gibb: All schools are required, by law, to have a behaviour policy with measures to address all forms of bullying, including homophobic bullying. We trust schools and teachers to decide what measures they should use to address homophobia based on their particular circumstances.
	Schools are held to account by Ofsted for their effectiveness in managing pupil behaviour and safety, which includes homophobic bullying. Inspectors must consider pupils’ freedom from all forms of harassment, bullying and discrimination. As part of the inspection, schools are asked to make available evidence of records and analysis of bullying, in particular homophobic bullying.
	We have issued advice to schools on preventing and tackling bullying in which we link to national organisations such as Stonewall, who can provide specialist advice to schools. This advice is available online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying
	In addition, we are working closely with the Government Equalities Office on a research project looking at effective ways of preventing and tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools. The results of the first phase of this work are expected to be published in autumn.
	The Government has not set any national targets for tackling homophobia in schools as targets can lead to perverse incentives with schools doing the minimum required to fulfil the target rather than tackling the issue.

Schools: ICT

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the significance is of the award of an ICT Mark to a school; and how many schools received such an award in 2013.

Nick Gibb: The ICT Mark was launched by the National Association of Advisers for Computers in Education (Naace) in 2007 and was accredited by Becta until 2011. Following the closure of Becta in 2011, Naace took full responsibility for awarding the ICT Mark independently of government, and the Department for Education ceased to have any involvement. According to Naace, 379 schools in the United Kingdom received the award in 2013.

Teachers: Qualifications

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how may teachers in state-funded schools did not hold a degree in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013.

David Laws: The following table provides the information available for the percentage of teachers in publicly funded schools in England who do not hold a degree and the percentage of teachers for whom qualifications data was provided.
	
		
			  Percentage recorded with no degree level qualification Percentage for whom qualification information was provided 
			 2013 3.3 94.0 
			 2012 3.9 93.7 
			 2011 5.1 91.2 
			 2010 5.7 90.1 
			 Source: School Workforce Census

Teachers: Training

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when the National College of Teaching and Learning will publish the final initial teacher training allocations for 2014-15.

David Laws: We intend to publish the final allocation of initial teacher training (ITT) places for the 2014/15 academic year as management information in the coming weeks. Data on the initial allocation of places is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-allocations-for-academic-year-2014-to-2015

Teachers: Training

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the final number of trainee teachers recruited in each region was in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.

David Laws: The following table shows the total number of trainee teachers in each region from 2010/11 to 2013/14.
	This is taken from the initial teacher training (ITT) census, which is taken on the second Wednesday of October each academic year. Further information is published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2013-to-2014
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14  
			 Provider region No. Proportion (%) No. Proportion (%) No. Proportion (%) No. Proportion (%) 
			 Eastern 3,287 9 3,100 9 2,838 8 2,754 8 
			 East Midlands 2,579 7 2,735 8 2,750 8 2,552 8 
			 London 6,552 18 6,477 18 6,486 18 5,713 18 
			 North East 1,673 5 1,675 5 1,668 5 1,507 5 
			 North West 6,244 17 5,793 16 5,698 16 5,508 17 
			 South East 5,811 16 5,599 16 5,440 15 4,822 15 
			 South West 3,683 10 3,571 10 3,606 10 3,325 10 
			 West Midlands 3,705 10 3,691 10 3,714 11 3,132 10 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 3,406 9 3,183 9 3,103 9 3,258 10 
			 Total 36,940 — 35,824 — 35,303 — 32,571 — 
			 Notes: 1. The Census excludes trainees on the ‘Teach First’ programme and those that may take up post after the census date. 2. Figures include both actual and forecast trainees. 3. Region is based on the ‘provider region’. Region is not known in all cases. Unknown cases have been excluded. 4. Figures are revised from published figures based on census updates in January and July.

Teachers: Training

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate her Department has made of the number of trainee teachers required through the School Direct programme in 2014-15.

David Laws: There is no requirement for a particular number of trainee teachers to be recruited to School Direct places. We aim to recruit in line with the number of trainees needed across all routes, as estimated by our Teacher Supply Model.
	The Teacher Supply Model figures for the academic year 2014/15 have been published as part of management information about initial teacher training (ITT) allocations. This is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-allocations-for-academic-year-2014-to-2015

Teachers: Training

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate her Department has made of the number of trainee teachers required in each region in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15.

David Laws: The requested information on the number of trainee teachers required in each region is not available.
	Information on the number of initial teacher training (ITT) allocations and places requested for the 2014/15 academic year grouped by region is available in the “Initial teacher training allocations for academic year 2014 to 2015” publication (summary by region tab). This is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/300720/itt_allocations_management_information_21_nov_2013.xlsx

Vocational Guidance

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment she has made of the effect on young people in (a) Wirral, (b) Liverpool City Region and (c) England of devolving the duty to deliver careers guidance.

Nicholas Boles: The Department for Education does not hold information about the impact of devolving the duty on young people in Wirral or the Liverpool City region specifically.
	Since 2012, all maintained schools in England have been legally required to secure independent careers guidance for their pupils. The decision to devolve this responsibility to schools was made in light of evidence that the previous Connexions Service was not meeting young people’s needs.
	In 2013, Ofsted’s study of the early implementation of this duty found that much of schools’ provision was not yet good enough. It also found that young people needed more opportunities to find out about careers from employers.
	In response the Government published an Inspiration Vision statement and new statutory guidance and departmental advice on careers guidance and inspiration, which is effective from September 2014. This provides a clear framework and practical support for schools to help them inspire their pupils through more contact with the world of work. Ofsted is now giving careers guidance a higher priority in school inspections and we will work with them to monitor carefully the impact of the statutory guidance and the wider improvements that government has put in place.

Written Questions

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of named day written questions were answered by her Department within the prescribed period in the (a) 2012-13 session, (b) 2013-14 session and (c) 2014-15 session to date.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			 Session Proportion of named day parliamentary questions answered on time (percentage) 
			 2012-13 117 
			 2013-14 87 
			 2014-15 (4 June 2014-5 September 2014) 83 
			 1 The Department’s system for handling written parliamentary questions failed during the 2010-12 session. This led to a collapse in performance and a loss of some data. 
		
	
	Departmental performance information for ordinary and named day parliamentary questions is collated by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and submitted to the Procedure Committee. This is published on a sessional basis by the committee, and includes evidence regarding departmental performance. The monitoring report relating to the 2012-13 session was published on 13 February 2014 as HC 1046. The report covering statistics relating to performance during the 2013-14 session will be published very shortly by the Procedure Committee.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Council Tax

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will estimate the number of local authorities that have held referendums on increasing council tax above the threshold set by his Department.

Kris Hopkins: No local authorities have so far held a council tax referendum since the provisions were introduced through the Localism Act 2011.

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to reduce energy costs in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Kris Hopkins: The Department for Communities and Local Government has already made excellent progress in reducing its energy costs by £1.1 million per annum to 2013-14 since 2009-10, despite the cost of energy increasing during the same period.
	This has been achieved primarily through low and no cost measures energy efficiency measures, a reduction in size of the Department's estate and a small number of capital investments. This has contributed to a reduction in associated greenhouse gas emissions of 51% during the same period.
	Plans to reduce energy costs further include continuing to refine Building (Energy) Management System programmes; conduct annual audits of all key plant and equipment to identify cost-effective options for asset replacement and enhancement; run staff awareness campaigns; monitor and target unexpected building energy profiles through automated meter reading devices across the estate; and estate rationalisation and co-location.
	In addition, the Department purchases its energy through the Crown Commercial Service frameworks which are let following extensive market competition and EU-wide tender processes to guarantee the best prices for energy. The bulk of central Government energy is aggregated under the Crown Commercial Service frameworks, which enable their Energy Team to engage directly with the energy markets to achieve best value and price for the taxpayer.

Fast Food: Planning Permission

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department issues on using the planning system to prevent concentrations of fast food outlets in deprived areas in order to reduce obesity.

Brandon Lewis: The planning system is primarily intended to control and mitigate the spatial impact of development. Hot food takeaways (Use Class A5) may cause particular issues to do with late night hours of operation, odours, highways/parking, waste storage, litter and anti-social behaviour. The cumulative impact of multiple premises in urban areas can also compound the problems and harm local amenity.
	Councils can use their Local Plans to shape where retail development should go, ensure the right balance of use classes, and prevent cumulative impact. A planning application is required to change from any use to a hot food takeaway.
	The Licensing Act regime also regulates the late night operation of hot food takeaways, in as far as it relates to the four specific licensing objectives.
	Notwithstanding, the planning system is ultimately not a means for the state to regulate the type of food that people eat. The issue of obesity is best addressed through public health policy and education policy.

Urban Areas: Kent

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to respond to the proposal submitted by Tenterden Town Council and Sevenoaks Town Council in February 2014 in relation to the Sustainable Communities Act 2007.

Stephen Williams: I responded to the proposal on 1 September. Sevenoaks Town Council, and others, wished to receive a share of the tax revenue raised from business rates.
	This Government is committed to supporting local town and parish councils. However, it is a zero sum game. At present, town and parish councils do not receive central government funding. Under the local retention of business rates, half of the revenue raised from business rates is retained by local government and half by central government.
	If part of this local share was diverted to town and parish councils away from principal local authorities and major precepting authorities, this would result in less spending on local services or an increase in council tax, or potentially a combination of both.
	Similarly, a reduction in the national share would reduce the funding available to central government to fund revenue support grant for principal authorities, thereby impacting on service delivery or council tax; or it would require cuts to other central government spending outside local government; or it would necessitate increases in national taxation.
	For these reasons, the Government does not support the proposal; I would add that these issues were carefully considered earlier in this Parliament when the new regime of local retention was established through the Local Government Finance Act 2012.
	Notwithstanding, our broader reforms to local finance are already helping town and parish councils to benefit from local economic growth. Where a local planning authorities implements Community Infrastructure Levy, 15 per cent of Levy receipts from a development must be passed to the town or parish council where development has taken place. To encourage local communities to be proactive in planning for their area, this rises to 25 per cent where a neighbourhood plan is in place. Where there is no town or parish council, the local planning authority will retain these funds to spend in consultation with the community.

Vacant Land: Urban Areas

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many developments on designated urban green space have been approved under the National Planning Policy Framework, for which a local planning authority has not to set aside a five year supply of housing.

Brandon Lewis: This information is not centrally held.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Elections

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will postpone its proposals on (a) photo identification for voters and (b) limitations on the handling of postal ballots until after the introduction of individual electoral registration.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission recommended in January 2014 that voters at polling stations in Great Britain should be required to show some form of identification; it has proposed that any scheme for voter identification should be in place not later than the scheduled 2019 elections, which would be after the introduction of individual electoral registration.
	The Commission intends to consult on proposed changes to the current Code of Conduct for Campaigners to reflect the recommendation that campaigners should not handle completed absent vote applications or postal ballot packs. The Commission aims to have agreed any changes to the Code in time for them to have effect for the May 2015 UK parliamentary general election, and has no plans to delay these changes.

Electoral Commission

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, which Electoral Commission reports have been (a)  placed and (b) not placed in the Vote Office in each of the last five years.

Gary Streeter: Only the Electoral Commission’s statutory reports are placed in the Vote Office. However, all reports produced by the Commission are published on its website.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, when hard copies of the Electoral Commission's report into the completeness and accuracy of the electoral registers 2014 were placed in the Vote Office.

Gary Streeter: Only the Electoral Commission's statutory reports are placed in the Vote Office. However, all reports produced by the Commission are published on its website.
	Copies of its report into the completeness and accuracy of the electoral registers 2014 are also available in the Library of the House of Commons.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authorities have contacted the European Commission on the capabilities of their computer system to deal with individual electoral registration.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission is in regular dialogue with all Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and their staff as part of their performance monitoring work to support the effective delivery of the transition to IER.
	While electoral management software (EMS) is one of the areas routinely covered in the course of these discussions and correspondence, contact from EROs and their staff on EMS supplier issues is managed by the Cabinet Office. This reflects the joint working agreement in place between the Commission and the Cabinet Office relating to the provision of guidance and support to EROs and their staff throughout the period of the transition.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will publish its original timetable for research, printing and publication of the report into the accuracy and completeness of electoral registers published on 22 July 2014; and what the original target date for publication of that document was.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that its target was to publish its report into the accuracy and completeness of electoral registers before the House rose for the summer adjournment, which it achieved. The final changes to the report were made on 21 July and it was then published on 22 July, and circulated to all MPs by e-mail.
	The Commission does not produce paper versions of its reports, which are made available electronically on its website and are available for downloading, so no additional time was taken for the preparation of printed copies.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, when the Electoral Commission will publish its report on the completeness and accuracy of the 2014 electoral register.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission published its report on the completeness and accuracy of the 2014 electoral register on 22 July 2014. The report was made available on the Commission’s website, and a copy was also circulated to all MPs, including the hon. member, by e-mail on the day of publication.
	Copies of the report are also available in the Library of the House of Commons.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission 
	(1)  what recent assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the changes in accuracy of the electoral registers between December 2010 and March 2014;
	(2)  what the (a) number and (b) proportion is of eligible people who are not registered to vote in each nation and region of the UK;
	(3)  what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the effects of (a) increased internal population mobility, (b) increased immigration, (c) electoral registration practices, (d) financial motivation and (e) any failure of electoral registration officers to conduct full door-to-door canvass of non-responders on electoral registration levels.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that the information requested can be found in the Electoral Commission’s recent reports into the accuracy and completeness of electoral registers.
	The reports were published on 22 July and made available on the Commission’s website. Copies were also circulated to all MPs, including the hon. Member, by e-mail on the day of publication.
	Copies of the reports are also available in the Library of the House of Commons.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how much and what proportion of the Electoral Commission's annual budget the Electoral Commission Report into Completeness and Accuracy of the Electoral Register 2014 cost to produce.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that its work on electoral registration is only part of its overall activities and responsibilities. The budget for the research used to inform the 2014 accuracy and completeness reports was £344,400 (including VAT). The Commission does not routinely record staff time spent on specific pieces of work and there is no estimate of this for the project.
	It is therefore not possible to accurately determine what proportion of the Commission’s total budget, a significant element of which is staff costs, was spent on the reports.

Electoral Register: Northern Ireland

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what estimate the Electoral Commission has made of the effect of a full canvass of electors in Northern Ireland in 2012 and 2013 on registration levels in Northern Ireland.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission conducted an evaluation of the 2013 canvass in Northern Ireland. The findings are outlined in its ‘Report on the Northern Ireland electoral registration canvass 2013’ published in April 2014 and available on the Electoral Commission website.
	Copies of the report are also available in the Library of the House of Commons.

Electoral Register: Young People

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what recent estimate the Electoral Commission has made of the cost of Bite the Ballot.

Gary Streeter: The Commission has made no estimate of the cost of Bite the Ballot.

European Parliament: Elections

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what proportion of votes was cast by postal ballot in each local authority area of the UK in the last European election.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that electoral data relating to the May 2014 European Parliament election will be made available on its website shortly.

Identity Cards

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what estimate the Electoral Commission has made of the cost including postage to (a) the voter and (b) the Electoral Commission, of producing and processing an identity card for the purpose of voting.

Gary Streeter: The Commission is currently undertaking work to estimate the cost of implementing and administering a proportionate and accessible scheme for verifying the identity of electors at polling stations. The Commission’s work will include estimating of the potential costs of implementing an electoral identity card scheme, which would be available free of charge to electors in Great Britain who were not in possession of any other form of valid identification.

Television

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how much the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission spent on televisions in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

Gary Streeter: No such expenditure was incurred by the Committee in either 2013 or the current year.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Public Appointments: Equality

Philip Davies: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities what assessment she has made of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's publication entitled Appointments to Boards and Equality Law, published in August 2014.

Jo Swinson: Government welcomed the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) legal framework on board appointments. The Guidance was only recently published (July 2014) so it is still too early to assess its impact.
	The EHRC Guidance is clear that the deliberate use of all-women long-lists or shortlists is likely to constitute unlawful sex discrimination. However, where there is no predetermination to draw up an all-women shortlist and an objective and consistent assessment of all candidates demonstrates that the best qualified candidates are all women, an all-women shortlist will be lawful, just as an all-male shortlist would be in the same circumstances.
	The framework is also useful in highlighting that there are many good practices that focus on positive measures that will help create an even playing field. This best practice has led to great progress being made in the number of women on boards. For the first time, every board of Britain’s top 100 companies have at least one woman and we now have over 22% women on the boards of our FTSE 100 companies (up from 12.5% in 2011).
	We could not have got this far without the excellent work of the Executive Search Community to improve gender parity in our boardrooms.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what support his Department gives to private citizens who take legal action against electoral registration officers who do not conduct door to door canvassing of those households that do not return electoral registration forms.

Sam Gyimah: The Cabinet Office provides no such support.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities have (a) promoted online registration and (b) not promoted online registration since its introduction.

Sam Gyimah: Every local authority in England and Wales has sent out a letter alerting electors to the changes in the electoral registration system, promoting and encouraging the uptake of online registration.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  which local authorities have contacted his Department on the capability of their computer system to deal with electoral registration;
	(2)  which local authorities have contacted his Department on the capability of their computer systems to deal with individual electoral registration.

Sam Gyimah: The Deputy Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
	The Cabinet Office has ongoing discussions with all local authorities about the capability of their IT systems to deal with electoral registration.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  if his Department will ensure the key indicators for the effectiveness of the Electoral Commission include the actual number and proportion of UK citizens who are registered to vote;
	(2)  if his Department will discuss with the Electoral Commission that body changing its target performance for completeness of the electoral register between 2014-15 and 2018-19 from completeness does not deteriorate to completeness is improved.

Sam Gyimah: As an independent body established by Parliament, the Electoral Commission is overseen by the Speaker’s Committee.
	The Electoral Commission’s corporate plan includes measures which relate to its effectiveness and to registration and it is the duty of the Speaker’s Committee to examine and approve its corporate plan.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  how many people have registered to vote online in each week since individual electoral registration was implemented;
	(2)  how many and what proportion of electors have registered online in each local authority area since online registration was introduced.

Sam Gyimah: Data concerning the volumes of online and paper applications received are available on the following web page:
	https://www.gov.uk/performance/register-to-vote

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the effectiveness in increasing the number of people registered to vote of the full canvass that took place in Northern Ireland between 2012 and 2013; and what guidance he provides to local authorities who do not conduct door-to-door canvassing for the purposes of electoral registration.

Sam Gyimah: In April, the Electoral Commission published a research report on the results of the Northern Ireland electoral registration canvass held in 2013. A copy of the report can be found here:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/166999/Report-on-the-Northern-Ireland-electoral-registration-canvass-2013.pdf
	The Electoral Commission provides guidance and resources to help electoral registration officers in the running of electoral registration. This includes guidance on door-to-door canvassing.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the trends in the number of unregistered voters between 2010 and 2014; and what targets his Department has to ensure that (a) completeness does not deteriorate and (b) completeness is improved over the next five years.

Sam Gyimah: The Electoral Commission’s study on the completeness and accuracy of the electoral registers, published in July 2014, shows that levels of electoral registration have stabilised since 2011. The report can be found here:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/169889/Completeness-and-accuracy-of-the-2014-electoral-registers-in-Great-Britain.pdf
	The Government is committed to taking steps to ensure that completeness of the electoral register is as high as possible, including the introduction of on-line registration and investing £4.2 million to support the costs of activities aimed at increasing voter registration.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Graham Allen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to permit Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Deals to fund revenue as well as capital spending; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: Through Growth Deals the Government has devolved over £6 billion of funding to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to invest in the key drivers of growth. While this investment is predominantly capital, up to £303 million in 15-16 is revenue funding. LEPs have also secured wider freedoms and flexibilities, which in some cases include additional revenue funding, or more influence over revenue funding streams. This is the first round of Growth Deals and Government’s intention is to increase the flexibility of the Local Growth Fund in future years.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Bail: Appeals

Philip Davies: To ask the Attorney-General how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful appeals against bail were made by prosecutors in Crown courts since 3 December 2012.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains no central record of the number or outcomes of appeals against bail conducted by the CPS in Crown courts. This information could be obtained only by examining all prosecution files maintained during the requested period, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Forced Labour: Prosecutions

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Attorney General how many successful prosecutions for forced labour there were in each of the last three financial years.

Robert Buckland: The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) indicate the number of offences charged, in which a prosecution was commenced at a magistrates courts rather than the identifying the number of people prosecuted or convicted.
	Section 71 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 creates the offence of holding someone in slavery or servitude, or requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour.
	During each of the last three years the number of offences charged by way of section 71 of the Coroners and Justice Act, and Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act as conspiracies to commit the offences, is as follows:
	
		
			  2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Coroners and Justice Act 2009 { 71 } 15 20 18 
			 Criminal Law Act 1977 {1(1)}—Conspiracy to hold a person in slavery, servitude or perform forced or compulsory labour 0 2 46 
			 Source: CPS Case Management Information System 
		
	
	There is no indication of the number of individual defendants prosecuted for these offences or the final outcome of the prosecution proceeding, or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at the time of finalisation. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same victim.
	In addition to the offence of trafficking for forced labour, the CPS will also prosecute for offences of trafficking.

Gangmasters: Licensing

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Attorney-General how many times prosecutions have been brought against those who have had their licence revoked by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority in each of the last three years.

Robert Buckland: No prosecutions have been brought by the Crown Prosecution Service against those who have had their licence revoked by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority in any of the last three years.

Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981

Helen Goodman: To ask the Attorney General how many prosecutions of offences under the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981 there have been in each year between 2009-10 and 2013-14.

Robert Buckland: The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) indicate the number of offences charged, in which a prosecution was commenced at a magistrates court, rather than the identifying the number of people prosecuted.
	During each of the last five years the number of offences charged by way of the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981 is as follows:
	
		
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981 {1(1) and 4}: Make/cause/ permit display of indecent matter 0 7 0 1 4 
			 Source: CPS Case Management Information System 
		
	
	There is no indication of the number of individual defendants prosecuted for these offences or the final outcome of the prosecution proceeding or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at the time of finalisation. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence.

Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981

Helen Goodman: To ask the Attorney General when the Crown Prosecution Service last (a) issued and (b) reviewed guidelines for prosecutions under the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981; and whether a further review of those guidelines is planned.

Robert Buckland: The CPS issued legal guidelines in relation to Obscene Publications in June 2001. The legal guidance was last reviewed in July 2011 and, at that time, guidance was added for the offence under section 1 of the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981. There is currently no intention to further review those guidelines.

CABINET OFFICE

Alcoholic Drinks: Crime

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of (a) violent and (b) other crime was attributable to alcohol in the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Brooks Newmark: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated September 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for the proportion of (a) violent and (b) other crime that was attributable to alcohol in the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. (208552)
	The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides the best measure of crime experienced by the population that is perceived by the victim to be attributable to alcohol.
	The CSEW asks respondents who were victims of crime in the previous 12 months, whether they perceived the offender to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of committing the offence. Information is available only for victims of ‘violent’ crime and the data in the table refer to the last five survey years.
	
		
			 Incidents where the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, 2008-09 to 2012-13, England and Wales, adults aged over 16 
			 Proportion of all violent incidents1 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Offender(s) perceived to be under the influence of alcohol2 (%) 47 50 44 47 49 
		
	
	
		
			 Unweighted base3 1,449 1,196 1,318 1,242 844 
			 1 ‘All violence’ includes wounding, assault with minor injury, assault without injury and robbery. See Section 5.1 of the “User Guide”. 2 Questions asked only if the victim was able to say something about the offender(s), and if there was more than one offender, victims were asked if any of the offenders were perceived to be under the influence. Questions were not asked if any offender(s) 3 Number of adults interviewed. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics. 
		
	
	Being a survey of the household population, the CSEW does not cover all crimes (such as crimes against businesses) or all victims and thus cannot provide an estimate of all crime that is perceived to be attributable to alcohol. For example, alcohol fuelled criminal damage against non-residential property will not be covered by the survey, as well as offences for which a fatality results.
	Furthermore, for crime types other than violent crime, the victim is typically less likely to have information about the offender (such as in cases of criminal damage) and so sample sizes are too small for robust estimates to be made.
	These data have been published by the ONS and have been extracted from the ‘Nature of Crime Tables, 2012/13—Violence’ file, available at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-328149

Big Society Network

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  with reference to the National Audit Office report, Investigation into grants from the Big Lottery Fund and the Cabinet Office to the Big Society Network and the Society Network Foundation, HC 572, paragraph 3.13, for what reason his Department did not request details of the actual expenditure incurred on the Get In project;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with the Prime Minister's Office about the decision to fund the Big Society Network and its charity arm, the Society Network Foundation, by the Social Investment Business and the Big Lottery Fund;
	(3)  what representations the Social Investment Business made to his Department about its proposal to alter the criteria which ensured that the Get In project of the Society Network Foundation received funds when they already had been turned down;
	(4)  for what reason a second payment to the Society Network Foundation for the Get In project was made when the Get In project had a surplus of £60,800 in October 2012.

Brooks Newmark: The department received confirmation from Society Network Foundation (SNF) in October 2012 that the funds had been spent in line with the grant agreement.
	Cabinet Office and Social Investment Business (SIB) worked together to ensure that a good range of projects was funded through the Social Action Fund.
	It is a long-standing convention that details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.

Charities

Lady Hermon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of charities registered in the UK primarily or substantially funded from Middle Eastern sources; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether any charities registered in the UK are donating funds or other support to Islamic State militants; and if he will make a statement.

Brooks Newmark: Charity regulation is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
	The annual accounts of charities in England and Wales are available on the Charity Commission’s website but the data requested on funding sources is not routinely held. Some charities may include information about the source of their donations in their accounts but they are not required to do so.
	The Charity Commission is alert to the potential abuse of humanitarian aid efforts through facilitating travel for individuals for other purposes, particularly to conflict zones where terrorist groups are known to operate or exert control, including in Syria and Iraq.
	There is a risk that charities working in certain areas, including those where so-called Islamic State militants operate, may be abused for non-charitable purposes. This is of serious concern to the Charity Commission. The Charity Commission has issued alerts to charities operating in these areas and advice to members of the public of how to give safely to ensure that their donations reach the intended charitable target. This information is available on the Charity Commission’s website.
	Where there are concerns about suspected terrorist or extremist abuse connected to a charity the Charity Commission will support the Police in conducting criminal investigations.

Civil Servants: Work Experience

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what university each intern on the Summer Diversity Internship Programme attended in each year since that programme started;
	(2)  how many interns each Department has accepted as part of the Summer Diversity Internship Programme who were (a) from each black and minority ethnic background, (b) socio-economically disadvantaged and (c) disabled in each year since that programme started;
	(3)  what monitoring his Department carried out on the Summer Diversity Internship Programme;
	(4)  what town or city each intern on the Summer Diversity Internship Programme was from in each year since that programme started;
	(5)  how many interns each department has accepted as part of the Summer Diversity Internship Programme; and how many such interns have been (a) women and (b) men in each year since that programme started.

Francis Maude: We will publish information on the Summer Diversity internship programme in due course.

Government Departments: Apprentices

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many apprentices each Department has accepted as part of the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme; and how many such apprenticeships were taken up by (a) women and (b) men in each year since that scheme started.

Francis Maude: The pilot cohort of 100 civil service fast track apprentices began their apprenticeships in September 2013. Eight Government Departments across England are participating in the pilot over a two-year period. The table below shows the number of fast track apprentices who took up post in each Department in September 2013.
	
		
			 Department Number 
			 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 6 
			 Cabinet Office 8 
			 Crown Prosecution Service 9 
			 Department for Education 15 
			 Department for Work and Pensions 25 
			 HM Revenue and Customs 22 
			 Ministry of Defence 4 
			 Ministry of Justice 11 
		
	
	209 apprentices are due to take up in September 2014, on the second cohort of the scheme. The number of fast track apprentices due to join in each of these Departments and agencies is given in the same table below.
	
		
			 Department Number 
			 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 8 
			 Cabinet Office 15 
			 Crown Prosecution Service 9 
			 Department for Education 20 
			 Department for Work and Pensions 48 
			 HM Revenue and Customs 44 
			 Ministry of Defence 29 
			 Ministry of Justice 5 
			 Civil Service Employee Policy 2 
			 Civil Service Resourcing 4 
			 Civil Service Learning 1 
			 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 3 
			 Department for Transport 1 
			 Department for Culture, Media and Sport 5 
			 Department for Communities and Local Government 4 
			 UK Trade and Investment, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 2 
			 Treasury Solicitor’s Department 2 
			 Insolvency Service 2 
			 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary 3 
			 Crown Commercial Service 2 
		
	
	Information on the number of women and men on the scheme is available based on the initial offers made—in July 2013 for the pilot cohort and May 2014 for the second cohort.
	The following numbers were those originally offered a place on the pilot Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme, in July 2013.
	(a) 43 women
	(b) 55 men
	(c) 2 did not declare their gender
	Since May 2014, 209 roles have been offered on the second cohort of the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme, which will start this September.
	(a) 91 women
	(b) 109 men
	(c) 9 did not declare their gender

Government Departments: Cost-effectiveness

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent steps he has taken to reduce waste across Government.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group was formed in June 2010 to drive reforms that improve public services, deliver savings and reduce wasteful expenditure.
	On 10 June my right hon. Friend the Chancellor and I announced savings through efficiency and reform of central Government of £14.3 billion for 2013-14 against a 2009-10 baseline. These savings are both recurring and non-recurring items and include £5.4 billion from procurement and commercial savings, £3.3 billion in project savings and £4.7 billion from work force reform and pensions savings.

Marriage

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate his Department has made of the number of weddings conducted annually in (a) Hindu temples, (b) mosques, (c) synagogues, (d) unlicensed churches, (e) gurdwaras and (f) any other religious establishments.

Brooks Newmark: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated September 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary question asking the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate has been made of the number of weddings conducted annually in (a) Hindu temples, (b) mosques, (c) synagogues, (d) unlicensed churches, (e) gurdwaras and (f) any other religious establishments.
	Marriage statistics for England and Wales are based on the details recorded in the marriage register when marriages are solemnised. Although each marriage venue has a unique code, it is not possible to determine individual establishment types from this code.
	Religious marriages cannot take place in unlicensed churches. Civil marriages can only take place in approved premises or register offices. Approved premises could include church buildings not registered for religious marriages; however it is not possible to separately identify these.
	It is possible to provide the number of marriages solemnised in England and Wales by denomination for 2011. Final marriage statistics for 2012 are due to be published in February/March 2015 alongside provisional 2013 figures.
	Marriage statistics by manner of solemnisation can be misleading as some religious marriages (such as Muslim and Sikh) can take place at unregistered premises. To be registered as a legal marriage the couple have a further marriage ceremony in a registry office or approved building. Such weddings are coded as civil marriages because only the civil marriage certificate is received. Given that marriage statistics can be misleading for some religions, ONS has only published religious denominations under broad groupings since 2011.
	
		
			 Numbers of Marriages by Denomination, England and Wales, 2011 
			 Denomination Number of Marriages 
			 Muslim 251 
			 Jewish 615 
			 Sikh 1,459 
			 Church of England and Church in Wales 54,463 
			 Roman Catholic 8,390 
			 Other Christian denominations1 8,844 
			 Other2 430 
			 Total religious ceremonies 74,452 
			 1 'Other Christian denominations' include Methodist, Calvinistic Methodist, United Reform Church, Congregationalist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Society of Friends (Quakers), Salvation Army, Brethren, Mormon, Unitarian and Jehovah's Witnesses. 2 Includes Hindu marriages.

Muslim Brotherhood

Ian Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  when he plans to respond to the report by Sir John Jenkins on the Muslim Brotherhood;
	(2)  if he will publish the report by Sir John Jenkins on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Francis Maude: Work is under way across Government to consider the findings of the Muslim Brotherhood review. We will make the main findings of the review public in due course.

Public Sector: Procurement

Bob Russell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what guidance he issues to companies delivering publicly-funded projects on taking the national interest into account when awarding contracts and sub-contracts.

Francis Maude: Any such requirements would be included in relevant contracts rather than in guidance.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Budgeting Loans

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to record and publish the reasons for applications for budgeting loans.

Steve Webb: We have no current plans to do this.

Employment and Support Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people claiming employment and support allowance who were previously self employed.

Mark Harper: The information requested is not readily available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Employment: Disability

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the employment rate is for people (a) born with a disability and (b) disabled later in life.

Mark Harper: This information is not available.

Food Banks

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance his Department provides to benefit offices on referrals to food banks.

Steve Webb: Jobcentre Plus offices have freedom to make local arrangements to signpost claimants as appropriate to local authorities and any other local organisations that support families in financial difficulties, including local food banks.

Funeral Payments

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of funeral payment decisions were made within his Department's target time in each of the last three years.

Steve Webb: The following table has been taken from the Social Fund Annual Report for 2012-13 which is the latest available published data and the Social Fund Annual Reports for 2011-12 and 2010-11.
	The table shows that the average clearance time for funeral payment awards was 14.76 working days against a target of 16 working days in 2012-13, 13.8 working days in 2011-12 and 14.5 working days in 2010-11.
	
		
			 Funeral payments 
			 Average actual clearance times (AACT) in working days AACT achieved AACT achieved Percentage cleared within AACT standard Percentage cleared within AACT standard plus 2 days Percentage cleared within AACT standard plus 5 days 
			 2012-13 16 14.76 65.10 74.20 83.00 
			 2011-12 16 13.8 1— 1— 1— 
			 2010-11 16 14.5 1— 1— 1— 
			 1 Data unavailable.

Funeral Payments

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) average and (b) total cost was of processing claims for Social Fund Funeral Payments in the last year.

Steve Webb: The costs of producing a social fund funeral payment across DWP in 2013-14 were as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 Total cost 2.598 
			 Unit cost 45.56 
			 Note: This includes salary costs plus locally attributed non-staff costs. Source: ABM 2013-14 Model (10/9/14).

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will reply to the hon. Member for Walsall North's letters of 6 August 2014 and 20 August 2014 on behalf of a constituent.

Steve Webb: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith) replied to the hon. Member on 9 September 2014.

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) his Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: All figures relate to base salary. 2014-15 figures are taken from year to date information.
	The following tables show the highest and lowest salaries for each of the requested years for the Department for Work and Pensions and each of its public bodies. The highest salaries relate to a small number of individuals across these organisations.
	In line with Cabinet Office guidance on publishing information highest salaries are shown in £5,000 bands.
	
		
			 Department for Work and Pensions 
			 £ 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2010-11 240,000—245,000 14,000 
			 2011-12 240,000—245,000 14,400 
			 2012-13 195,000—200,000 14,550 
			 2013-14 195,000—200,000 14,700 
			 2014-15 195,000—200,000 15,150 
			 Note: Includes Child Maintenance Group salaries. 
		
	
	
		
			 The Pensions Ombudsman 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2010-11 120,000—125,000 17,000 
			 2011-12 120,000—125,000 17,000 
			 2012-13 120,000—125,000 17,000 
			 2013-14 125,000—130,000 17,625 
			 2014-15 125,000—130,000 17,625 
		
	
	
		
			 The Pensions Regulator 
			 £ 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2010-11 230,000—235,000 16,028 
			 2011-12 230,000—235,000 16,278 
			 2012-13 230,000—235,000 16,578 
			 2013-14 210,000—215,000 16,778 
			 2014-15 210,000—215,000 18,000 
		
	
	
		
			 National Employment Savings Trust 
			 £ 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2010-11 230,000—235,000 20,150 
			 2011-12 230,000—235,000 20,150 
			 2012-13 230,000—235,000 26,000 
			 2013-14 230,000—235,000 26,360 
			 2014-15 230,000—235,000 25,000 
		
	
	
		
			 Remploy Limited 
			 £ 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2010-11 145,000—150,000 11,080 
			 2011-12 145,000—150,000 11,354 
			 2012-13 145,000—150,000 13,266 
			 2013-14 120,000—125,000 14,000 
			 2014-15 120,000—125,000 14,000 
		
	
	
		
			 Independent Living Fund 
			 £ 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2010-11 100,000—105,000 15,990 
			 2011-12 100,000—105,000 14,500 
			 2012-13 90,000—95,000 15,438 
			 2013-14 95,000—100,000 14,500 
			 2014-15 105,000—110,000 14,750 
		
	
	
		
			 Pension Protection Fund 
			 £ 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2010-11 195,000—200,000 16,086 
			 2011-12 195,000—200,000 16,626 
			 2012-13 195,000—200,000 16,473 
			 2013-14 220,000—225,000 18,218 
			 2014-15 220,000—225,000 18,218 
		
	
	
		
			 The Pensions Advisory Service Ltd 
			 £ 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2010-11 90,000—95,000 21,000 
			 2011-12 90,000—95,000 21,500 
			 2012-13 90,000—95,000 20,500 
			 2013-14 75,000—80,000 20,750 
			 2014-15 95,000—100,000 21,200 
		
	
	
		
			 The Office for Nuclear Regulation 
			 £ 
			  Highest full-time equivalent salary Lowest full-time equivalent salary 
			 2014-15 175,000—180,000 18,044 
			 Note: ONR became a public corporation in April 2014.

Personal Independence Payment

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average waiting time was for a personal independent payment assessment by Atos in (a) England, (b) the South West and (c) Gloucester over the last 12 months.

Mark Harper: Statistics on the time taken to clear cases are intended for future publication and the Department's analysts are currently considering what information will be included in the release.

Social Security Benefits

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications were made for short benefit advances in 2013-14; how many such applications were successful; what average amount was awarded to successful claimants; and what reason was given for the rejection of each unsuccessful application.

Steve Webb: The total volume of Short Term Benefit Advance (STBA) applications received from April 2013 to March 2014 was around 313,000. This figure relates to JSA, ESA, IS and IB applications only. Of these applications, around 90,000 received an immediate payment of benefit. Of the remaining 223,000, around 79,000 were successful in receiving a Short Term Benefit Advance with an average award of approximately £57.00.
	We do not keep data on the reasons for refusal of STBAs.

Terminal Illnesses: Scotland

Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Scotland have had DWP form DS1500 signed by their doctor to confirm they are terminally ill in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mark Harper: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is unable to provide the requested information as the DS1500 is completed by various health care professionals from across the UK and the Department is not required to capture this level of management information.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2014, by the Cabinet Secretary to Question 32 in oral evidence taken in the Committee of Public Accounts, when the Major Projects Authority informed him that the universal credit project was way off track.

Mark Harper: The reset rating highlighted in the Major Projects Authority Report (September 2013) referred to the shift in the delivery plan and change in management in early 2013. Since the reset, we have worked to a clear plan to deliver universal credit. We are on track with this plan and we are making good progress. In June 2014, the CEO of the Major Projects Authority reported to Public Accounts Committee that the universal credit programme was stable and on track.

Vacancies: Internet

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which of the tools, processes and techniques used by Monster on its commercial job search website to protect users from fraudulent activity are not used on Universal Jobmatch; and what changes Monster has proposed to his Department to improve anti-fraud protection on his Department's website.

Steve Webb: Any information on the tools, processes or techniques used by Monster on its commercial job search website would be held by Monster. In addition, for obvious reasons, it would not be in the public interest for the Department to disclose particular details of our anti-fraud measures.

TRANSPORT

Apprentices

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he or Ministers in his Department have had with Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the proposed reform of apprenticeships and its potential effects on his Department's projects and the work of its supply chain; and whether officials in his Department sit on programme boards managing that reform.

Claire Perry: The Secretary of State for Transport and Ministers in his Department have not had discussions with Ministers in the Department for Business Innovation and Skills on the proposed reform of apprenticeships and its potential effects on the Department’s projects and the work of its supply chain.
	I can also confirm that no officials within his Department sit on programme boards managing the apprenticeship reform.

Great Western Railway Line

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the progress made in electrifying the Great Western Rail route.

Claire Perry: Officials at the Department for Transport are in regular dialogue with Network Rail with regards to the programme for Great Western Electrification. The electrification is programmed to be delivered in phases starting with Maidenhead to Newbury, Oxford, Chippenham and Bristol Parkway in December 2016. Chippenham to Bristol Temple Meads electrification is programmed to be delivered in May 2017, and Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway to Cardiff is programmed for December 2017.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate his Department has made of the number of people likely to take up the alternative cash offer under the High Speed 2 compensation scheme.

Robert Goodwill: The Department recognises that the alternative cash offer is a new approach to compensating those who will be affected by the railway and we therefore do not have the evidence to estimate the number of people likely to take it up. We have instead modelled a range of possible take-up rates, up to 75%. In order to strengthen our understanding of the potential impact of this policy, we have commissioned an independent social research company to gather further evidence and we will also be able to draw upon responses from the current consultation.

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) his Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The highest and lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (a) the Department for Transport and (b) its public bodies in 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 £ 
			  Department for Transport Public Bodies 
			  Lowest Highest Lowest Highest 
			 2010-11 12,041 159,613 14,862 361,600 
			 2011-12 12,041 170,000 13,946 181,455 
			 2012-13 14,400 165,000 14,862 181,455 
			 2013-14 14,967 166,574 15,221 183,270 
			 2014-15 16,256 166,574 13,500 750,000

Pedestrians: Accidents

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of pedestrians who are (a) male, (b) female, (c) children and (d) over 65 suffered (i) fatal and (ii) serious injuries in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Robert Goodwill: The proportion of (i) killed and (ii) seriously injured pedestrians who were (a) male, (b) female, (c) a child (aged 0 to 15 years) or (d) aged over 65 for the years 2004 to 2013 is given in the following tables.
	
		
			 (i) Pedestrian fatalities in reported road accidents by gender and selected age: Great Britain, 2004 to 2013 
			  2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 (a) Male 450 421 452 422 362 324 275 308 290 270 
			 % share 67 63 67 65 63 65 68 68 69 68 
			            
			 (b) Female 221 250 223 224 210 176 130 145 130 128 
			 % share 33 37 33 35 37 35 32 32 31 32 
			            
			 (c) Child: 0-15 years 77 63 71 57 57 37 26 33 20 26 
			 % share 11 9 11 9 10 7 6 7 5 7 
			            
			 (d) Aged over 65 221 234 240 251 211 176 130 151 161 131 
			 % share 33 35 36 39 37 35 32 33 38 33 
			            
			 All ages 671 671 675 646 572 500 405 453 420 398 
		
	
	
		
			 (ii) Seriously injured pedestrians in reported road accidents by gender and selected age: Great Britain, 2004 to 2013 
			  2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 (a) Male 4,208 3,889 3,867 3,838 3,626 3,344 3,115 3,211 3,345 2,947 
			 % share 62 60 61 61 60 60 60 59 60 59 
			            
			 (b) Female 2,597 2,568 2,508 2,440 2,439 2,200 2,085 2,243 2,214 2,050 
			 % share 38 40 39 39 40 40 40 41 40 41 
			            
			 (c) Child: 0-15 years 2,262 2,071 1,954 1,842 1,727 1,623 1,620 1,569 1,525 1,332 
			 % share 33 32 31 29 28 29 31 29 27 27 
			            
			 (d) Aged over 65 1,000 957 926 990 981 889 803 890 936 860 
			 % share 15 15 15 16 16 16 15 16 17 17 
			            
			 All ages 6,807 6,458 6,376 6,278 6,070 5,545 5,200 5,454 5,559 4,998

Railways: Fares

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to limit changes to rail fares for commuters in 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The Government is taking action to support hardworking families by lowering the cost of travelling to workplaces and schools. The cost of regulated rail fares for 2015 will be capped at inflation, removing the previously planned increase of rail fares of RPI plus 1%. Furthermore, for 2015, train operating companies will no longer be able to increase individual fares by up to 2% more than the permitted increase.
	The Government has therefore protected passengers by taking 3% off the maximum increase for a regulated fare. Over a quarter of a million season ticket holders will benefit from this move, saving on average £75 for 2014 and 2015.

South Wales Railway Line

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether electrification of the South Wales Main Line will include electrification of the relief lines between Severn Tunnel Junction and Cardiff Central stations.

Claire Perry: Electrification of the South Wales Main Line is in an early stage of development. The scope of works to be undertaken is currently being determined by Network Rail and therefore it is too early to confirm whether the relief lines will be included or not.

Transport: Berkshire

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent steps he has taken to improve transport connections between Windsor and Reading.

Robert Goodwill: On 27 March, the Government and Transport for London announced that Crossrail services will be extended to serve Reading from 2019. Once Crossrail services begin across the whole line in 2019, passengers travelling to London from Windsor, Reading and other Thames Valley stations will be able to travel to more destinations across London without the need to change at Paddington. Construction of Crossrail is now more than half completed and electrification of the Great Western Main Line is also under way. Electrification of the Slough to Windsor route is approved and will improve local connectivity.
	The transformation of Reading station was completed on time and under budget as part of the £850 million Reading Station Area Redevelopment programme and formally opened by Her Majesty the Queen on 17 July.
	The Government continues to progress the M4 Junction 3–12 smart motorway project, the next step for which is formal public consultation in the autumn. The Highways Agency is also taking forward a £2.5 million pinch point scheme to increase capacity at the M4/A329 (M) junction.
	On 7 July the Government agreed the £96.9 million Growth Deal with the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership. This includes £94.6 million to support local transport improvements across the whole of Berkshire, including in and between Windsor and Reading.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Clerk of the House

Simon Burns: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the answer of 5 September 2014 to Question 207883, if the Commission will make available to the right hon. Member for Chelmsford all the records of all the discussions of the panel considering the appointment of the new Clerk of the House and Chief Executive with the personal data of the applicants redacted.

John Thurso: Applicants for the role of Clerk of the House and Chief Executive applied in confidence. Records relating to the recruitment process constitute the personal data of the applicants. It would still be possible to identify personal information about individuals following the redaction of names and other personal data from records of the panel discussion. It is not the Commission’s practice to disclose confidential personal information of this nature.

Library: Secondment

Simon Burns: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, who authorised the secondment of a member of the House of Commons Library staff to work in Burma with the Burmese Parliament; how long this secondment has lasted; and how much the staff member has been paid in (a) salary and (b) expenses while on secondment.

John Thurso: In her speech to Members of both Houses in Westminster Hall on 21 June 2012 Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged the UK to provide “practical help” to support moves to democracy in Burma.
	The initial secondment of a senior researcher from the House of Commons Library to work with the Burmese Parliament for 6 months from January 2014 was authorised by the Clerk of the House. The Burmese side subsequently requested an extension of the secondment for a further 6 months; this was agreed by the Clerk of the House and confirmed in a letter of 14 July 2014. The secondment overall will accordingly run from January 2014 to January 2015. The secondment is referred to in the House of Commons business plan 2014/15 and contributes to the House Service’s objective of supporting other parliaments, especially those in transition towards democracy.
	The researcher is paid on the A2 salary scale, currently £46,532 to £61,255.
	As at the end of August 2014, total expenses have amounted to £24,100.50 including accommodation, travel and local project costs.

TREASURY

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to reduce energy costs in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: The Treasury is committed to improving the energy efficiency of the Department's estate and reducing energy consumption year on year and continues to work with Exchequer Partnership, its PFI supplier, on developing appropriate energy reducing initiatives.
	The Treasury takes a range of mitigating measures, including:
	the replacement of some lighting with new energy efficient LED bulbs;
	installing sensors to lighting in some parts of the building;
	replacing end of life equipment with more energy efficient appliances;
	engagement campaigns for HM Treasury staff and other building occupiers on switching off lights, computer monitors and any other electrical equipment when not in use;
	taking forward the recommendations from a recent air conditioning survey;
	proactively monitoring the electricity supply to the building to identify areas where further investigation is called for; and
	development of a Treasury Sustainability Plan with one of the key elements being to reduce energy consumption.

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) his Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: HM Treasury and agencies have a commitment to the Government to publish Organogram and Salary data twice a year. The information requested can be found using the following link:
	http://data.gov.uk/organogram/hm-treasury
	Information relating to the end of September 2014 will be published later in the year.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Administrative Scheme for the “On the Runs” Independent Review

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the timetable is for the full implementation of the Hallett report’s recommendations; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: I made an oral statement to the House of Commons on 9 September 2014, Official Report, columns 779-89, which dealt with some aspects of the implementation of the recommendations of the Hallett report. My statement clarified that:
	This scheme has ended;
	Letters issued in whatever form do not represent any commitment that the recipient will not be investigated or prosecuted, if that is now considered appropriate by the responsible authorities;
	Those who received individual or composite letters indicating that they were ‘not wanted’ and who derived comfort from that, should cease to derive any such comfort;
	Recipients should cease to place any reliance on their letters;
	Decisions about investigation and prosecution in specific cases, now or in the future, will be taken on the basis of intelligence and/or evidence relating to whether or not the person concerned committed offences; and
	These decisions will be based on the views of those who now have responsibility for these matters. Their views may be the same as those that led to the letters being sent in the past, or they may be different.
	In addition, the Northern Ireland Office has set up an ‘On the Runs’ Policy Oversight Board to oversee the implementation of the recommendations. In association with others, we will ensure that the Hallett report recommendations are implemented with due care and in a timely manner.

Administrative Scheme for the “On the Runs” Independent Review

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which recommendations of the Hallett Report have already been implemented; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: All of the recommendations of the Hallett Report have now either been implemented or are in the process of implementation.
	I have addressed the first four recommendations through public statements. These were that the Northern Ireland Office should:
	Clarify with all relevant parties whether the NIO will retain responsibility for determining the future of the scheme;
	Confirm whether any element of the scheme still exists and, if so, whether it will continue:
	Seek legal advice, in conjunction with the police and prosecuting authorities, to determine whether it should notify any individuals whose status, as communicated to them, has changed or may change in the future; and
	Consider how to mitigate against further abuse of process arguments, for example by confirming to recipients the factual and contemporaneous nature of their letters of assurance.
	In response to these recommendations, I have made it clear that:
	This scheme has ended;
	Letters issued in whatever form do not represent any commitment that the recipient will not be investigated or prosecuted, if that is now considered appropriate by the responsible authorities;
	Those who received individual or composite letters indicating that they were ‘not wanted’ and who derived comfort from that, should cease to derive any such comfort;
	Recipients should cease to place any reliance on their letters;
	Decisions about investigation and prosecution in specific cases, now or in the future, will be taken on the basis of intelligence and/or evidence relating to whether or not the person concerned committed offences; and,
	These decisions will be based on the views of those who now have responsibility for these matters. Their views may be the same as those that led to the letters being sent in the past, or they may be different.
	In addition, the Hallett report also made the following recommendations for the Government:
	Co-ordinate the investigation of the potential errors identified by this Review and, in conjunction with the police and prosecuting authorities, resolve them at the earliest opportunity:
	Consider establishing a procedure for recording on a central register-where this is appropriate-the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.
	An ‘On the Runs’ Policy Oversight Board has been set up, chaired by the NIO, which will address these recommendations. NIO officials are liaising with the Ministry of Justice in relation to the proposal for a central register for the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

Disclosure of Information

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps she is taking in response to the breach of internal communications security in her Department relating to the leak of information to newspapers regarding her announcement to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on 3 September 2014; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: There was no breach of communications security in my Department relating to the leak of information to newspapers regarding the evidence I gave to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on 3 September 2014. Any communication with the media was aimed at correcting inaccurate reports of what I was expected to say to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps she is taking to reduce energy costs in her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: My Department currently operates from two locations; 1 Horse Guards road, London; and Stormont house, Belfast.
	The relocation of the London office in February 2013 enabled a considerable reduction of the footprint from 3,098 square metres to 462 square metres. The move reduced energy costs through maximising open plan working and sharing resources with other Departments within the building. The office space was recently reduced by 30 square metres, further reducing energy costs for heating and lighting.
	In our Belfast office there is a strong emphasis on encouraging staff to be energy aware and to maximise the sharing of IT equipment, turning off all appliances (computers, printers and lights) when not in use. The ‘Turn it Off’ campaign is promoted throughout the Department which also includes the use of energy efficient appliances and light bulbs.
	A number of working practices have been streamlined or ceased in recent months as part of an efficiency and reform package, which has reduced energy usage in Stormont house. For example, the canteen facility has been closed and overnight accommodation is no longer used, resulting in reduced use of appliances, lighting, heating etc.
	Work has recently commenced to review the use of the accommodation in Belfast which will seek to maximise efficiency within the existing footprint, and to identify potential options to reduce the NIO footprint if possible, with a view to reducing overheads and energy costs. Part of the office is a Grade II listed building so this will be taken into consideration as part of the review.

Foreign Investment in UK

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many international businesses she has met to discuss inward investment into Northern Ireland since her appointment as Secretary of State; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: Details of external meetings with organisations and individuals are published on a quarterly basis and can be found at:
	www.nio.gov.uk/publications

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) her Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: The Northern Ireland Office follows the Ministry of Justice terms and conditions, including pay scales for bands A-F. There are different pay scales for London and Belfast; the lowest pay bands for each region are shown below.
	Pay for the senior civil service across all Departments is determined centrally by the Cabinet Office based on annual recommendations from the Review Body on Senior Salaries (SSRB) which is an advisory non-departmental public body, sponsored by Cabinet Office. Details of the recommendations for 2014-15 can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/senior-salaries-review-body-36th-report-2014
	The NIO’s annual reports giving details of the SCS salaries for the year 2010-15, can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/search?q=nio+annual+report+and+accounts
	
		
			  Highest (band A) Lowest (band F) 
			  London Belfast London Belfast 
			 2010-11 67, 969 60,649 16, 737 14, 320 
			 2011-12 67, 969 60,649 16, 737 14, 320 
			 2012-13 67, 969 60,649 16, 737 14, 320 
			 2013-14 67, 969 60,649 17,391 14,800 
			 2014-15 67, 969 60,649 17,800 15, 230 
		
	
	My Department has two non-departmental public bodies—the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland; and one advisory non-departmental public body—the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland. As such bodies are independent of Government, the hon. Member may wish to write to the commissions direct on these matters—contact details are set out below:
	
		
			 ALB Status Contact details 
			 Parades Commission Northern Ireland Executive NDPB info@parades commission.org 
			 Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Executive NDPB information@nihrc. org 
		
	
	
		
			 Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland Advisory NDPB bcni@belfast.org.uk

Prerogative of Mercy

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps she is taking to establish a procedure for recording on a central register the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy as recommended in the Hallett Report published on 17 July 2014; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: My officials are working with officials from the Ministry of Justice to
	“consider establishing a procedure for recording on a central register—where this is appropriate—the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy”
	as recommended by Lady Justice Hallett in her Report into the ‘on the runs’ administrative scheme.

Terrorism

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment she has made of the terms of reference adopted by the Police Service of Northern Ireland to review on-the-run cases under Operation Red Field; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: Policing in Northern Ireland is devolved and independent of Government. In that context, the terms of reference for policing operations are a matter for the police.

Terrorism

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment she has made of the current security threat posed by the Real IRA and other dissident republicans; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: Northern Ireland continues to face a severe terrorist threat from a small minority of groups who have almost no popular support but do retain both lethal intent and capability. In recent months, the PSNI, who work in close co-operation with An Garda Siochana and others, have secured significant disruptions, arrests, convictions and arms seizures that have impeded violent dissident activity. This Government is clear that terrorism will never prevail in Northern Ireland and we remain fully committed to tackling it now and in the future, keeping the people of Northern Ireland safe and secure.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will bring forward proposals to make military exports to Saudi Arabia contingent on human rights reform in that country.

Tobias Ellwood: The Government of Saudi Arabia faces a number of security challenges, with concerns arising from the fractious regional situation and external sources, and so have a legitimate requirement for types of equipment in the performance of its sovereign defensive responsibilities.
	The Government remains confident that the UK has a thorough and robust export control and licensing system, which distinguishes between exports for legitimate defence and security purposes and exports that breach the criterion 2 threshold: a clear risk that they might be used for internal repression, violation of human rights or gender-based violence. These considerations are specifically identified in the Government’s Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, criteria against which all applications for strategic export control licences for military goods, including arms and dual-use goods are assessed on a case-by-case basis.
	The Government is satisfied that the currently extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria.

Bahrain

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to his Bahraini counterpart on the detention of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja; and if he will make a statement.

Tobias Ellwood: We are closely monitoring the case of Abdulhadi Al Khawaja. As in the case of his 110 day hunger strike in 2012, we are concerned about his welfare. Bahraini Ministry of Interior’s Ombudsman’s Office announced it was launching an investigation into the conditions of his detention. As a result, an investigator visited Mr Al Khawaja in Jau prison. We understand that Mr Al Khawaja has seen medical staff regularly since he began his hunger strike and that, according to the Ombudsman’s Office, the medical staff continue to provide him with health care and are monitoring his medical condition closely.

Bahrain

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the government of Bahrain about the detention of Maryam Al-Khawaja at Bahrain International Airport; and if he will make a statement.

Tobias Ellwood: We are aware of the arrest of Maryam Al-Khawaja last week. We are monitoring the case closely. The British ambassador to Bahrain raised her case with the Bahraini authorities last week. We urge the Government of Bahrain to ensure that due legal process is fully respected and international norms of justice adhered to.

Burma

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Burmese Government on their treatment of the Rohingya.

Hugo Swire: We have raised the treatment of the Rohingya in every one of our recent ministerial contacts with the Burmese Government.
	The former Foreign Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised the situation in Rakhine State in a call with his Burmese counterpart, U Wunna Maung Lwin, in April 2014. He called for the Burmese Government to facilitate humanitarian assistance to all communities in the State. I also raised this issue with Khin Maung Soe, Burmese Minister for Electric Power in July, as well as with the Burmese ambassador, whom I summoned in April to register my concerns. More recently, the Minister of State, Department for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest West (Mr Swayne), discussed Rakhine with Minister for the President’s Office, U Soe Thein in August.
	Our ambassador and embassy officials consistently discuss these concerns with representatives of the Burmese Government.

Egypt

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of progress with democratic reform in Egypt.

Tobias Ellwood: Since January 2014, Egypt has held a constitutional referendum; elected a new President, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi; and is preparing for parliamentary elections. We look to President Al Sisi to take steps to implement the rights contained in Egypt’s constitution by opening up political space, in particular ensuring freedom of expression and association as well as ensuring that human and legal rights are fully upheld. I raised these issues with the Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for Europe during my visit to Cairo on 25 August.

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to reduce energy costs in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is committed to meeting the Greener Government Commitments and to reducing the energy use of its operations. In 2014-15, the FCO will be undertaking the following measures to reduce the energy costs of its UK operations: installing additional LED lighting; installing additional daylight and motion sensors on lighting; improvements to equipment and operation of the heating infrastructure in the King Charles street main building; virtualising and consolidating the server estate in our main data-centre; adjustments and interventions to reduce the cooling requirement of its main data-centre; and installing additional automated meter reading and more efficient pumps. Consolidation of the FCO’s principal London offices into one building in 2015 will also bring large net energy savings.
	The energy savings from these measures in 2014-15 will add to numerous energy saving initiatives in recent years such as installation of voltage regulation equipment and thermostatic radiator valves; LED lighting; decommissioning legacy IT systems; powering down desktops at night and staff switch off campaigns.
	In addition the FCO enjoys the benefits of utilising the centralised Government Procurement service framework for the purchasing of its electricity and gas.
	The answer relates to the FCO's UK estate, which comprises King Charles street, Old Admiralty building, Lancaster house, Carlton gardens, Hanslope park and Northgate house. It would incur a disproportionate cost to source this information from our network of overseas posts, as this information is held locally.

Hamas

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the sources of rockets supplied to Hamas operating in Gaza; and if he will make a statement.

Tobias Ellwood: Our assessment is that rockets are brought to Gaza from several sources, including the tunnels which run into the territory.

Iraq

Ian Paisley Jnr: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken to end the persecution of Christians in Iraq by the Islamic State.

Tobias Ellwood: The Government is providing £23 million in humanitarian assistance to those who have fled areas of Iraq controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and have taken part in a series of air drops to people trapped by ISIL. We are providing military assistance to the Kurdish Peshmerga as set out in the Prime Minister's statement on 1 September so that they can restore control over areas taken by ISIL. I also met leaders of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the church to which many Iraqi Christians belong, making a statement strongly condemning the persecution that Iraq's religious minorities have suffered.
	I visited Iraq on 26 to 27 August and pressed the then Prime Minister-designate Haider Al-Abadi to ensure his new government in Iraq would ensure the protection of all minorities, promote human rights and reassert the rule of law.

Religious Freedom

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle religious persecution internationally.

David Lidington: The promotion and protection of the right to freedom of religion or belief is one of the UK’s human rights priorities. We actively raise individual cases and work to combat discriminatory legislation and practices through multilateral systems and targeted project work. In the last month alone, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers have expressed grave concern about persecution of individuals on the grounds of their religion or belief in Syria, Pakistan and Iraq.
	Most recently, at the Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Iraq on 1 September, we and international partners sponsored a resolution which commits the Council to working with the Government of Iraq
	“to foster religious freedom and pluralism by promoting the ability of members of all religious communities to manifest their religion and to contribute openly and on an equal footing to society, and to take appropriate measures to prevent attacks against persons on the basis of their religion or belief and to prosecute the perpetrators of such attacks.”
	We will work actively with the newly formed Government of Iraq to support them in this aim.
	As a recent example of our project work, last week, we also sponsored a conference to share best practice between human rights defenders and journalists working on freedom of religion or belief issues in South Asia.
	We will continue to be active bilaterally, multilaterally, through project work and in providing training to our staff to tackle religious persecution internationally.

Sudan

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the demobilisation and integration of former Beja Congress fighters into civil and military services is adequately supported.

James Duddridge: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s engagement in Sudan does not include direct support to the demobilisation and integration of former Beja Congress fighters into civil or military roles.

Sudan

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of recent developments in Sudan's National Dialogue process.

James Duddridge: The British Government continues to monitor Sudan's National Dialogue process closely, including via regular reporting from its embassy in Khartoum. We continue to call on the Government of Sudan to live up to its commitment to hold an inclusive national dialogue as the best way of achieving sustainable peace and a prosperous Sudan.

Syria

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to stop the war in Syria; and if he will make a statement.

Tobias Ellwood: The UK has been very active over the years of the Syria conflict, and it remains a top priority. The rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) threatens the UK, and the whole region.
	With our international partners, we have focused on support for those pushing for an inclusive political settlement. This has led to our political and non-lethal assistance to moderate opposition groups. We have committed £30 million this financial year for helping the moderate opposition and bolstering regional resilience. We have given strong backing for UN efforts in the political track.
	The UK has also focused on holding Assad to account for his war crimes, which have included routine, indiscriminate bombardment of civilian areas, the use of chemical weapons, and the use of siege and surrender tactics. The UK is also the second largest bilateral humanitarian aid donor, and has been at the forefront of efforts in the UN Security Council to ensure aid gets to all those who need it.
	The UK recently committed to tackling the threat from extremists, including ISIL. This needs a co-ordinated strategy in Syria and Iraq, and close co-ordination with the US and other partners.

Syria

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal (a) is intact and (b) has been destroyed to date; and if he will make a statement.

Tobias Ellwood: As of 29 August, all of Syria’s declared chemical stockpile of 1,309.8 metric tonnes had been removed from Syria and thus put beyond use of the regime. 95.8%, or 1,254.8 metric tonnes had been destroyed either by incineration or neutralisation, including all of the category 1 chemicals (those deemed most proliferation sensitive by the OPCW, plus isopropanol).
	The destruction of some of the category 1 chemicals in the UK was completed on 5 August, three weeks after the arrival of the chemicals in the UK. A smaller quantity of hydrogen fluoride (a category 2 chemical) will be destroyed in the UK at the turn of the year. Other chemicals are being destroyed in Germany, Finland and the United States.
	Syria was required to declare and destroy all stocks of chemical weapons and their precursors, and the facilities and equipment with which they were manufactured. The international community cannot have confidence that Syria’s declarations were complete while credible reports of the use of chemical weapons, such as chlorine, continue, and until all outstanding questions surrounding the declarations have been resolved. The OPCW continues to seek answers to a number of questions.

Syria

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government recognises President Assad as the legitimate head of state of Syria.

Tobias Ellwood: Britain has a long-standing policy of recognising states and not governments. Our position on Assad remains unchanged—he does not have legitimacy and should step aside in the interests of the Syrian people. Assad's elections and inauguration were parodies of democracy, disenfranchising millions of Syrians and conducted in a way which fell far short of any international democratic standards.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will discuss with her counterparts in the devolved administrations the need for discussions with the European Commission on the development of a relief package for farmers and the UK beef industry; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: DEFRA Ministers have been in regular contact with their colleagues in the devolved administrations. My officials discuss and agree a negotiating position with each of the devolved administrations prior to any EU discussions on the current unpredictability of beef markets.
	In July, I hosted a “beef summit”. This was a positive meeting with senior representatives from across the UK’s food and farming industry, including Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh farming industry bodies, to ensure that we have a sustainable and profitable UK beef industry for the future. The outcomes included the decision by producers and processors to work together on a voluntary code of conduct on improving transparency of the charges that some abattoirs make for handling carcasses and notice periods for changes to product specifications. The European Commission short-term outlook expects beef prices to remain firm although below the 2013 record highs.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the effect of changes to safety requirements for the 2014 badger cull on the safety of that cull.

George Eustice: The Independent Expert Panel concluded that they were confident that controlled shooting can be carried out safely, even in the context of protester activity. As with the first year of the culls, Best Practice Guidance for the controlled shooting of badgers is in place and compliance with this will be monitored by Natural England.

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to reduce energy costs in her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: Core DEFRA procures energy from the Crown Commercial Services Energy Frameworks. These pan-government contracts enable DEFRA to benefit from economies of scale and risk-managed procurement from the energy markets, so keeping costs down. Energy costs are also minimised through measures to reduce and improve the control of energy use in its buildings.
	The biggest contributor to reduced energy costs has been the rationalisation of DEFRA’s estate. Since 2012-13 the Department has reduced its London estate from four to two properties, making more efficient use of space and reducing energy consumption as part of the overall strategy.
	Core DEFRA has also reduced energy costs by investing in voltage optimisation, more efficient heating systems, LED lighting and better insulation. Smart metering also enables core DEFRA to monitor and target excessive consumption and ensure building systems are operating to optimum efficiency.

Food Integrity and Food Crime Group

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the written statement of 4 September 2014, on Elliott Review, which Departments will be represented on that group and at what level of seniority; what the membership will be of that group; and when that group will meet; what the terms of reference are of the cross-government group on Food Integrity and Food Crime.

George Eustice: Food Integrity and Food Crime will be a cross-government strategic group chaired by me. The group is being established to bring together Departments with a shared interest in the integrity of the food chain, consumer protection and confidence in food, food surveillance and crime, with the purpose of strengthening the co-ordination of the Government’s activity in these areas.
	Members of the group will be Government Ministers from the Department of Health, Business Innovations and Skills and the Home Office, and the Chairman of the Food Standards Agency. It will be supported by a cross-departmental group of senior officials chaired by the Permanent Secretary to DEFRA.
	A date for the first meeting this autumn is being arranged. The terms of reference and full membership details will be available shortly.

Food: Crime

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on enabling the recording of food crime as an identifiable category of crime in police databases.

George Eustice: The Secretary of State has not discussed the recording of food crime as an identifiable category of crime in police databases with the Home Secretary.

Fracking

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  on what basis parts of the (a) body and (b) conclusions of the Rural Community Policy Unit report on Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts, published in March 2014, were redacted;
	(2)  which Minister determined the redactions to the Rural Community Policy Unit report on Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts, published in March 2014;
	(3)  what proportion of the Rural Community Policy Unit report on Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts, published in March 2014, was redacted;
	(4)  if she will place in the Library an unredacted copy of the Rural Community Policy Unit report on Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts, published in March 2014.

Dan Rogerson: The draft Rural Economy Impacts paper was an internal document that is not analytically robust. It has not been published and we have no plans to do so. The full list of references on which it was based has been released under Environmental Information Regulations. Redactions were made to the draft paper based on exceptions under the Environmental Information Regulations; Ministers were not involved in this process.

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) her Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if she will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: The following tables show the highest and lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by core-DEFRA, its executive agencies and NDPBs in each year since 2010-11.
	In line with previous reporting on senior salaries, the highest salary figure has been provided in a £5k band.
	
		
			 2010-11 
			 Organisation Highest salary Lowest salary (£) 
			 Core DEFRA £155,000 to £159,999 15,279 
			 AHVLA £130,000 to £134,999 14,310 
			 VMD £90,000 to £94,999 19,036 
			 CEFAS £120,000 to £124,999 12,951 
			 FERA £110,000 to £114,999 14,478 
			 RPA £130,000 to £134,999 15,868 
		
	
	
		
			 2011-12 
			 Organisation Highest salary Lowest salary (£) 
			 Core DEFRA £160,000 to £164,999 15,279 
			 AHVLA £130,000 to £134,999 14,310 
			 VMD £115,000 to £119,999 19,785 
			 CEFAS £120,000 to £124,999 13,279 
			 FERA £110,000 to £114,999 14,764 
			 RPA £155,000 to £159,999 16,118 
		
	
	
		
			 2012-13 
			 Organisation Highest salary Lowest salary (£) 
			 Core DEFRA £160,000 to £164,999 15,529 
			 AHVLA £130,000 to £134,999 15,529 
			 VMD £115,000 to £119,999 19,785 
			 CEFAS £120,000 to £124,999 13,529 
			 FERA £110,000 to £114,999 14,912 
		
	
	
		
			 RPA £155,000 to £159,999 16,368 
		
	
	
		
			 2013-14 
			 Organisation Highest salary Lowest salary (£) 
			 Core DEFRA £160,000 to £164,999 15,764 
			 AHVLA £130,000 to £134,999 15,529 
			 VMD £115,000 to £119,999 19,510 
			 CEFAS £80,000 to £84,999 13,927 
			 FERA £110,000 to £114,999 19,848 
			 RPA £160,000 to £164,999 16,368 
			 1 Apprentice grade was introduced in 2013-14 
		
	
	
		
			 2014-15 
			 Organisation Highest salary Lowest salary (£) 
			 Core DEFRA £160,000 to £164,999 15,980 
			 AHVLA £130,000 to £134,999 15,685 
			 VMD £115,000 to £119,999 19,803 
			 CEFAS £80,000 to £84,999 14,502 
			 FERA £110,000 to £114,999 19,947 
			 RPA £160,000 to £164,999 16,450 
			 1 Apprentice grade was introduced in 2013 -14 
		
	
	The information for DEFRA’s non departmental public bodies (NDBPs) will be placed in the House Library.

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, how much and what proportion of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority's (IPSA) budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of IPSA's budget he expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

Charles Walker: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	Letter from Marcial Boo, July 2014
	As Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking about contracted out services.
	Contracted out expenditure has been interpreted as all third party expenditure and the data are set out in the below table.
	
		
			 Costs (£000) 
			  Actual Forecast 
			 Financial year 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 
			 Costs 1650 3332 946 1406 1646 1709.535 
			 IPSA's administrative budget 4448 10394 8364 7908 10152 10332 
			 % of budget related to contracted out services 37% 32% 11% 18% 16% 17%

DEFENCE

Apprentices

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he and Ministers in his Department have had with Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the proposed reform of apprenticeships; what effect those discussions will have on his Department's projects and the work of their supply chain; and whether officials in his Department sit on programme boards managing the reform.

Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is pleased to be recognised as the single largest deliverer of apprenticeships in the UK. Apprenticeships are firmly embedded across armed forces initial training, with, for example, 95% of Army recruits enrolling in an apprenticeship each year, most of whom complete within two years. The MOD is also the largest deliverer of civilian apprenticeships across Government Departments.
	The Government’s apprenticeship reform programme is aimed at ensuring apprenticeships in England become more rigorous and more responsive to the needs of employers. MOD officials do not sit on the programme boards, and this programme has not been the subject of Ministerial discussions between MOD and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). However, I can confirm that senior MOD officials are fully engaged with their BIS counterparts as we look to influence the implementation of this reform and to develop MOD policy in support of it.
	It is in the MOD’s interests to ensure its supply chain contains personnel with the skills required to support defence interests. To that end the MOD seeks to reflect wider supply chain training requirements through bodies such as the Defence Growth Partnership (DGP).
	MOD officials are engaged with BIS on the development of new Trailblazer apprenticeships to meet MOD and wider defence industry needs. In the context of the Aerospace Trailblazer Group the RAF has collaborated with major employers such as BAE and Airbus to produce apprenticeship standards for the manufacture of aircraft. Another example is the Supply Chain and Logistics Operations Trailblazer. This is divided into four main areas: Warehouse Operations, Specialist Driving, Specialist Operative and Port Operations. The MOD is represented on the committees responsible for the development of standards for each of these main areas.

Armed Forces Covenant

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report 2013, page 13, what progress has been made on the Partner Employment Project; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The mobile nature of Service life can create a particular difficulty for working partners who often give up their own jobs to accompany Service personnel. The Partner Employment Project (PEP), as part of the New Employment Model (NEM) programme, is focused on addressing the barriers that hinder spousal employment.
	The PEP continues to support the delivery of two LIBOR-funded programmes which provide, respectively, employability and business start-up workshops: the LifeWorks for Families programme run by the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) and the ‘Supporting the Unsung Hero’ Business Start-Up programme run by the University of Wolverhampton. These two-year programmes started in October 2013 and I am pleased to say that over 200 spouses have already benefited. Demand is such that this year both programmes are delivering extra bespoke workshops in Germany and Cyprus. RBLI are also delivering a course in Belgium to support serving personnel serving in NATO, as well as developing a remotely accessed programme to enable them to reach more spouses flexibly.
	Childcare provision is another key issue. Although not formally part of the PEP, a childcare study has been conducted by the MOD’s Director of Children and Young People which reviews what childcare support Service personnel currently access, identifies best practice, and considers how best to use the £20 million LIBOR funds allocated to the MOD to improve childcare infrastructure. The findings of the study are currently being considered and will be shared later in the autumn.

Armed Forces Covenant

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report 2013, page 7, what progress has been made on the introduction of pupil information profiles to help with the transfer of key information when service children move from one school to another; and whether he plans to introduce that programme on a nationwide basis.

Anna Soubry: The Pupil Information Profile was developed by North Yorkshire County Council with the Ministry of Defence (MOD), schools and the Department for Education (DfE) and its devolved equivalents using funding from the MOD’s Education Fund.
	The Pupil Information Profile is a standard document used to assist the transfer of pupil information when a Service child moves schools. The document contains key information, such as their educational background, learning requirements and next learning steps.
	The MOD has promoted its use in a number of ways. For example through discussions with the various education forums within the Devolved Administrations. By informing the military community of the Pupil Information Profile through articles in the Families Federations magazines and by its use in MOD schools overseas.
	Whether to role the Pupil Information Profile out on a national basis is a matter for the DfE (and its devolved equivalents).

Army Reserve

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the strength of the Regular Army Section Reserve was in each year between 2010-11 and 2013-14;
	(2)  what the strength of the Long Term Reserve was in each year between 2010-11 and 2013-14;
	(3)  what the strength of the Regular Army A Reserve was in each year between 2010-11 and 2013-14.

Julian Brazier: The Ministry of Defence does not recognise some of the specific terms used in these questions.
	The Army Regular Reserve comprises ex-regular other ranks and officers who retain a liability to be called up for military service after they leave service. Other ranks who have voluntarily left the Army with less than 18 years service retain a reserve liability for up to six years or until they reach the 18-year point. The Army Regular Reserve also includes personnel who have applied to return to military service on fixed term reserve contracts. These include some mobilised and High Readiness Reserves, Full Time Reserve Service and Additional Duties Commitments. Officers retain a reserve liability until they are in receipt of their pension.
	The Long Term Reserve consists of ex-regular other ranks who have completed their reserve liability or have no reserve liability on discharge but who can be recalled for service under section 68 of the Reserve Forces Act. This would only happen under circumstances where national danger is imminent, an emergency has arisen or in the event of an attack on the United Kingdom. The Long Term Reserve liability includes the Regular Reserve liability and remains to age 55 or up to 18 years after leaving service, whichever is earlier.
	The following table provides the strengths of the Army Regular Reserve and Long Term Reserve. These figures are collated from internal Army manning data and are not classed as a national statistic.
	
		
			  April 2011 April 2012 April 2013 February 2014 
			 Regular Army Reserve—officer and other ranks with reserve liability 33,583 33,754 34,670 34,735 
			 Regular Army Reserve—other ranks Long Term Reserve 19,715 25,699 30,987 35,446

Army Reserve

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the strength of the Regular Army Reserve of officers was in each year between 2010-11 and 2013-14.

Julian Brazier: The strength of the Regular Army Reserve of officers at 1 April each year has been published by Defence Statistics since 2012. The information is available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-reserve-forces-and-cadets-strengths-2014
	The totals are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Total 
			 2012 9,020 
			 2013 9,200 
			 2014 8,970

Army: Redundancy

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) voluntary redundancies, (b) compulsory redundancies, (c) voluntary exits and (d) involuntary exits from the Army there were in each year between 2010-11 and 2013-14.

Anna Soubry: The information requested is shown in the table:
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Redundancies 0 600 2,080 4,050 
			 Voluntary exits 4,240 4,980 5,530 4,710 
			 Involuntary exits 4,390 4,720 4,030 4,030 
		
	
	All redundancies are compulsory. The figures for ‘involuntary exits’ include data for those coming to the end of their engagement, medical discharge, discipline discharge and all other circumstances.
	Figures have been rounded to 10; numbers ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

Army: Training

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of Army (a) phase one and (b) phase two training was in each year between 2010-11 and 2013-14.

Mark Francois: The cost of activities across phase 1 and phase 2 training establishments are split between a number of different budgets which are not managed centrally. For example, infrastructure costs (including utilities) are managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation through contracts which do not allow the costs for individual units operating on a particular site to be identified. Similarly, equipment costs are managed across whole fleets of items by Defence Equipment and Support, and not by individual location or unit. For this reason, the full running costs of Army phase 1 and phase 2 training cannot be provided. However, the costs of phase 1 and phase 2 training attributable to the Army Recruiting Training Division are provided for financial year 2010-11 to 2013-14 in the table. These figures cover stock consumption such as ammunition, contract costs such as driver training along with other costs including travel and subsistence and administrative expenditure.
	
		
			 £ million 
			 Training 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Phase 1 47 46 44 43 
			 Phase 2 72 71 68 65 
			 Total 118 117 113 108

Defence Equipment

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the amount of military equipment supplied to Iraq by NATO states that has been appropriated by ISIS in 2014.

Mark Francois: Iraqi security force losses of military equipment since January 2014 cannot be accurately quantified. Known losses of equipment supplied by NATO members include howitzers and their tractors, an armoured personnel carrier and numerous vehicles, small arms and munitions. We continue to monitor the situation closely.

Military Exercises

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the benefits of participation by the Royal Air Force in Exercise Red Flag; and if he will make a statement on the 2014 exercise.

Mark Francois: Participation in Exercise Red Flag in 2014 was important in maintaining close ties, from strategic to tactical levels, with the USA and Australia, and provided a realistic and testing environment for coalition training for both aircraft and ground-based force elements.

Military Exercises

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the merits of participation by the Royal Air Force in the Anatolian Eagle 2014 exercise; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: Participation in Exercise Anatolian Eagle in 2014 at Konya Air base in Turkey afforded UK personnel with the experience of deploying and operating alongside NATO and other potential coalition allies. This includes exposure to the complexities of operating large numbers of aircraft from the same base and in missions of large airborne formations.

North Africa

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel are on active duty in North Africa.

Mark Francois: As of 3 September 2014, there are two service personnel deployed to Morocco, two to Algeria, six to Tunisia, and four to Egypt.

Vacancies

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what commercial, project management and engineering role vacancies there were in his Department (a) in March 2014 and (b) on the latest date for which data is available.

Philip Dunne: The requested information is presented in the table. The figures for March 2014 are lower than the normal number of vacancies in each of these areas through 2014. Changes to the Civil Service Resourcing jobs portal meant that the recruitment process was effectively frozen for a period of around three weeks in March; vacancies not submitted to the system that month were submitted to the new portal in April.
	
		
			 Vacancies that have been advertised on the civil service jobs website 
			 Job Family 26 March 2014 4 September 2014 
			 Commercial 10 20 
			 Programme and Project Management 39 102 
			 Engineering and Science 44 70 
			 Total 93 192

War Graves

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the Answer of 14 May 2014, Official Report, column 613W, on war graves, what further progress has been made on discussions with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the transfer of graves maintained by the Ministry of Defence to that Commissioner.

Anna Soubry: Discussions between Ministry Of Defence (MOD) and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) are continuing regarding the transfer of maintenance responsibility for the graves of military personnel buried in the UK since 1945. Furthermore, during the most recent discussions the CWGC has indicated a willingness to take over the maintenance work.
	The MOD is now in the process of compiling specific information to assist a detailed analysis by the CWGC and we are striving to reach a conclusion at the earliest possibility.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Business: Loans

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the availability of finance for small firms and the level of lending by banks to small businesses.

Vincent Cable: Recent data from the Bank of England shows some signs that bank lending to SMEs is starting to recover. Gross lending to SMEs in the first seven months of 2014 was nearly £30 billion, up 21% on the equivalent period last year. Net lending was at zero or modestly positive in each of the last three months if overdrafts are excluded, reversing a long-term negative trend. Credit conditions, however, remain tight for the smallest businesses in particular.

EU External Trade: USA

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of potential GDP growth resulting from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Matthew Hancock: Independent analysis shows that an ambitious, comprehensive TTIP agreement could be worth up to £10 billion annually to the UK in the long term. This translates to additional disposable income of around £400 per year for an average UK household.

EU External Trade: USA

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what safeguards for (a) the NHS and (b) other UK public services the Government is seeking to secure within the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Matthew Hancock: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not change the fact that it is up to UK Governments alone to decide how UK public services, including the NHS, are run. The UK has insisted on maintaining the same safeguards for the NHS in TTIP as it has in all recent trade agreements.

Exports: Israel

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many decisions on standard individual export licence applications for export to Israel were made between 8 July and 31 July 2014; and what proportion of such decisions were approved.

Matthew Hancock: 10 decisions for Standard Individual Export Licences were made for direct export to Israel.
	A further four decisions for Standard Individual Export Licences were made for export, where Israel is listed as either an ultimate end user or potential ultimate end user on the application.
	In total 14 decisions were made and all were for licences to be granted.

Government Assistance

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  how many and what proportion of recipients of (a) grants or (b) loans underwritten by the Government were female in the last five years;
	(2)  what requirements there are for delivery partners to monitor the gender of (a) applicants for and (b) recipients of government-backed (i) grants and (ii) loan schemes;
	(3)  how many and what proportion of applicants for (a) grants or (b) loans underwritten by the Government were female in the last five years.

Matthew Hancock: There are a number of grant and loan schemes administered by this Department through delivery partners. Many of these loans and grants are made to a company or organisation and not to named individuals. As such, we do not collect data on gender for these loans and grants. The following tables provide details of specific schemes aimed at individual applicants.
	
		
			 Start Up Loans 
			 Scheme No. of female applications Proportion who were femaleapplication No. of female recipients Proportion who were femalerecipients (%) 
			 Start Up Loans (launched September 2012) 11,526 36 6,914 37 
		
	
	Start Up Loans (launched September 2012) are delivered by Start Up Loan Company (SuLCo). There is no specific requirement to monitor gender, but monitoring of gender is one of the data streams SuLCo captures to aid in its reporting to government.
	
		
			 Student Loans1 
			 Type of support No. of females awarded loans academic year 2008-09 (000) Proportion who were femaleawarded loans academic year 2008-09 (%) No. of females awarded loansacademic year 2012-13(000) Proportion who were femaleawarded loans academic year 2012-13 (%) 
			 Maintenance Grant Awarded 263.7 57 302.4 54 
			 HE Grant Awarded 15.0 51 0.0 42 
			 Adult Dependant Grant Awarded 3.6 43 3.8 43 
			 Childcare Grant Awarded 9.4 91 12.8 90 
			 Parental Learning Allowance Awarded 27.6 80 31.8 81 
			 Travel Grant Awarded 0.7 58 1.0 56 
			 Disabled Students Allowance Paid 10.9 57 31.9 58 
			 Tuition Fee Loan Paid 362.6 54 469.9 53 
			 Maintenance Loan Paid 419.5 54 505.5 54 
			 1 Excludes Careleavers Grant, Dependants Grant and Lone Parents Grant 
		
	
	Student Loans are delivered by Student Loans Company (SLC). There is no requirement to monitor gender. Monitoring focuses on the eligibility criteria which are set out in regulations. Gender is not part of the eligibility criteria.
	The data only includes two academic years because providing all five academic years would be of disproportionate cost.
	The data only includes those who were “awarded” Student Loans rather than those who “applied” and “received”. This is because students are awarded Student Loans based on eligibility criteria so only those who applied and were eligible have been recorded.
	
		
			 24+ Advanced Learning Loan (24+ALL)1 
			 Academic year No. of learners awarded 24+ALL No. of femalelearners awarded 24+ALL Proportion of female learners awarded a 24+ALL (%) No. of applications for a 24+ALL No. of femaleapplications for a 24+ALL Proportion of female applications for a 24+ALL (%) 
			 2013/14       
			 August 2013 to April 2014 52,400 39,500 75 — — — 
			 2013/14       
			 To end June 2014 — — — 69,110 52,010 75 
		
	
	
		
			 2014/15 — — — 4,760 3,680 77 
			 1 Introduced in the 2013/14 academic year 
		
	
	In addition, Vocational Education Teaching and Learning funding is outlined in the Skills Funding Statement which sets out the Government’s priorities for the budget. It is for providers to decide how they use funding to reflect those priorities. The Skills Funding Statements 2012-15 and 2013-16 also show in the Data Annex what learning the available funding has supported over the last three years, including a breakdown by gender:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-funding-statement-2013-to-2016
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-funding-statement-2012-2015

Higher Education: Admissions

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to widen access to higher education.

Greg Clark: In April this Government published a new national strategy for access and student success. It will help to ensure that all those with the potential to benefit from higher education have equal opportunity to participate and succeed. Data from UCAS shows the number of applicants who had been accepted for entry to higher education this year was up by 4%, the highest ever at that point. The application and entry rate for disadvantaged students are at record levels.

Minimum Wage

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many employers have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment since 1 October 2013; and of those how many have been identified under the Department's national minimum wage naming scheme.

Jo Swinson: The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and the effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.
	Notices of Underpayment (NOU) have been issued in 571 cases where investigations were completed between 1 October 2013 and 31 July 2014. 118 of these were for investigations that commenced on or after 1 October 2013 and were therefore issued under the new scheme.
	Of these, the Government has so far named 30 employers under the revised scheme. Between them they owed workers a total of over £50,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £24,000. Some employers may also not be named if they make representations that fall under the very exceptional circumstances of the scheme or if they have arrears of £100 or less. However, the vast majority of employers issued with a notice of underpayment will be named and shamed once the time limits for appeals have expired.

Written Questions

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of named day written questions were answered by his Department within the prescribed period in the (a) 2012-13 session, (b) 2013-14 session and (c) 2014-15 session to date.

Jo Swinson: Departmental performance information, for ordinary and named day Parliamentary Questions, is collated by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and submitted to the Procedure Committee. This is published on a sessional basis by the committee, and includes evidence regarding departmental performance. The monitoring report relating to the 2012-13 session was published on 13 February 2014 as HC1046. The report covering statistics relating to performance during the 2013-14 session will be published very shortly by the Procedure Committee and will show that, for this Department, 938 of the 982 named day Parliamentary Questions (96%) received a substantive reply on the date stipulated by the Member.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills received 172 named day questions of which 151 (88%) were answered within the prescribed period during June-July 2014.

JUSTICE

Apprentices

Adrian Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he and Ministers in his Department have had with Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the proposed reform of apprenticeships; what effect those discussions will have on his Department's projects and the work of their supply chain; and whether officials in his Department sit on programme boards managing the reform.

Michael Penning: Ministers from the Ministry of Justice have not met directly with Ministers from Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to discuss the proposed reform of the apprenticeship scheme.
	We currently only offer apprenticeships to existing members of staff, and so any proposed reforms to apprenticeship schemes will not have any impact on our current policies and processes.

Courts: Video Conferencing

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 256W, on courts: video conferencing, if he will publish a list of the remote sites for giving evidence in England and Wales that are located away from court buildings.

Shailesh Vara: MOJ provides video conferencing capability in 84 Crown courts and 165 magistrates courts. Remote links to these courts are possible in any part of the country through the police and local arrangements with charitable organisations. For example Kent police supports three suites where evidence can be given away from court buildings.
	MOJ also installed video conferencing equipment on the premises of the local authority in Barry, Glamorgan, in recognition that provision in South Wales needed to be improved. We are currently working with police and crime commissioners to establish new remote sites. There may be further sites, located outside court buildings, which are in use, but they would be driven by other agencies such as the police and the third sector. We do not hold the information about these other remote links as they are not managed by MOJ.

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to reduce energy costs in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Shailesh Vara: In 2013-14, the Ministry of Justice reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 17% from 2012-13 against the 2009-10 baseline.
	The MOJ is reducing its energy costs (defined as pence per kWh) by migrating energy and utilities contracts onto the Crown Commercial Service Framework.
	MOJ also has a programme of projects to reduce carbon emissions and to improve energy efficiency across its estate.
	Reducing the amount we generate in carbon emissions forms an important part of our strategy to deliver savings within the MOJ estate.

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) his Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

Shailesh Vara: It has not been possible to answer this question in the timeframe. I will write to the hon. Member in due course.

Prisoner Escapes

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many days each of the offenders who absconded from open conditions in 2014 had served there before they absconded;
	(2)  how many years left to serve has each determinate sentence prisoner who absconded from open conditions in the last year.

Andrew Selous: Progression to open prison is never automatic and only those prisoners who are assessed as a low risk of harm to the public and a low risk of abscond will be held in open conditions. Prisoners serving longer sentences may be allocated to open prison towards the end of their sentence but only where they have successfully completed relevant offending behaviour work that is judged to have reduced any risks. In the case of ISPs this generally involves a recommendation from the Parole Board. The following table shows how many days each offender had been in open conditions prior to the date of abscond.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of days served in open prison prior to absconding, January 2014 to March 2014 
			 Time since arrival Number of absconders 
			 On day of arrival 0 
			 1st or 2nd full day 0 
			 3 days to 7 days 0 
			 8 days to 30 days 4 
			 31 days to 3 months (90 days) 24 
			 3 months to 6 months (91 to 182 days) 10 
			 6 months to 1 year 4 
			 Over 1 year 0 
		
	
	Figures from April 2014 onwards are not yet available. Over 97% of prisoners who abscond are re-captured and returned to custody.
	Absconds have reached record lows under this Government. Abscond levels are down 80% over the last 10 years.
	The sentence length at the time of the abscond is not readily available for all absconds in 2013-14. As sentences can change due to further criminal or prison offences it would be necessary to write out to each establishment and analyse each prisoner's records to determine the remaining sentence length at the time of the abscond. This could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
	Figures for the number of absconds, by prison, since 1995 are provided in tie Prison Digest contained in the Prison and Probation Trusts Performance Statistics. This can be found at
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314

Prisoners’ Release

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners re-categorised as suitable for Category D who were over two years from their earliest release date were sent to open conditions in the last year.

Andrew Selous: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave in June. We do not centrally hold data on the number of prisoners transferred from closed to open prisons for the time period requested or the time left to serve at the point of recategorisation and allocation to the open estate. Consequently, the information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, as it would involve a manual trawl through the records of every prisoner transferred to an open prison in the last year to identify if they were over two years from their earliest release date at the point of recategorisation and then allocation to an open prison.
	Two years is considered to be the maximum time a prisoner should spend in open conditions. However, assessment of a prisoner’s individual risks and needs may support earlier categorisation to open conditions. Such cases must have the reasons for their categorisation fully documented and confirmed in writing by the governing governor.
	Categorisation and allocation to open prison is never an automatic progression. Public protection is foremost in the decision making process. Only prisoners who have successfully completed offending behaviour work essential to their risk reduction and whose risks are manageable in conditions of low security will be allocated to an open prison.
	The earliest date on which an indeterminate sentence prisoner may be released from custody is on completion of his “tariff”—that is, the minimum period to be served in custody, as determined by the Court, for the purposes of retribution and deterrence. These prisoners do not have fixed release dates, so even if the data on transfers was readily available, it would not be possible to identify a length of time left to be served in these cases. The vast majority of indeterminate sentence prisoners will be transferred to open conditions only on a positive recommendation from the independent Parole Board. Where they can show that they have made exceptional progress and where there are no known or documented concerns about their risk of harm or risk of abscond, they may be transferred without a positive recommendation from the Parole Board.

Probation

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the assessment of the Major Projects Authority on his plans for the Probation Service.

Andrew Selous: It is standard practice for the Major Projects Authority (MPA) to undertake assessments of major projects and programmes, such as the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms to the Probation Service. The MPA has had full access to the TR programme documentation, and the MPA’s assessments, which are focused on assuring delivery of the reforms, are provided in confidence to the programme leadership. In order not to prejudice commercial interests, there are no plans to publish the MPA assessment in the House of Commons Library.
	The programme of reforms is on track. We are currently managing the competition which will appoint the owners of the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). We have a healthy competition across all areas with over 80 bidders and an average of four bidders per contract package area. Bids are currently being rigorously assessed, and we are on track to announce the contract winners for each CRC by the end of 2014.

Probation: North West

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases are still unallocated to either the National Probation Service or to a community rehabilitation company in (a) the North West, (b) Cheshire and (c) Warrington.

Andrew Selous: All cases live on 1 June 2014 have been allocated to either the NPS or CRCs. Cases were transferred during the process of transitioning to new probation structures. The National Probation Service (NPS) is responsible for the assessment and allocation of all probation cases. The NPS either retains ownership of the case itself or allocates appropriate medium and low risk cases to a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC).

Property Searches: Fees and Charges

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whether he plans to make further financial payments to local authorities in respect of claims made against them by property search companies for refunds of local land charges search fees as a result of the implementation of the 2003 EC directive on freedom of information and the 2004 environmental information regulations;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities to date of claims made by property search companies for refunds of local land charges search fees as a result of the implementation of the 2003 European Directive on public access to environmental information and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government are considering a submission prepared by the Local Government Association that the new burden assessment earned out in 2010 in respect of the revocation of the fee payable for a personal search of the local land charges register should be re-opened.
	Any costs property incurred by local authorities in England in dealing with claims for refunds of local land charge search fees will be taken into account by the departments should it be decided to re-open the assessment. No decision has yet been taken.

Written Questions

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of named day written questions were answered by his Department within the prescribed period in the (a) 2012-13 session, (b) 2013-14 session and (c) 2014-15 session to date.

Shailesh Vara: The information requested for the proportion of named day answers which have been answered within the prescribed period is set out in the following table.
	
		
			 Session Proportion answered within the prescribed period (percentage) 
			 2012-13 64 
			 2013-14 17 
			 2014-151 58 
			 1 Data correct as of 8 September 2014. 
		
	
	The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) and the ministerial team take our obligations to Parliament seriously and want to ensure that hon. Members receive answers of a high standard which set out the relevant context. More complex questions can involve compiling and analysing large volumes of information, and we respond to such questions as promptly as we can.
	The Department has implemented a number of measures to ensure it provides high quality and timely parliamentary question answers. Following these changes there has been a significant improvement in timeliness.
	Departmental performance information is published on a sessional basis by the Procedure Committee. The monitoring report relating to the 2012-13 session was published on 13 February 2014 as HC1046. The report for the 2013-14 session is due to be published shortly.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to reduce energy costs in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Amber Rudd: Since it was established, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has reduced its energy consumption by 42%.
	DECC has, and continues, to take effective steps to reduce its energy costs by cutting energy use on its estate. The Department’s Carbon Management Plan details our plans to achieve reductions in energy and carbon through to 31 March 2015. The Carbon Management Plan is published on the Government website, and copies will be made available in the Libraries of the House:
	https://intranet.decc.gsi.gov.uk/services/estates/Documents/CMP%20rev%202.pdf

Housing: Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  what proportion of (a) owner-occupied, (b) private rented, (c) local authority and (d) housing association households have an energy performance certificate rating of (i) A, (ii) B, (iii) C, (iv) D, (v) E, (vi) F and (vii) G;
	(2)  what proportion of households with an energy performance certificate of (a) A, (b) B, (c) C, (d) D, (e) E, (f) F and (g) G are (i) owner-occupied, (ii) private rented, (iii) local authority and (iv) housing association households.

Amber Rudd: Data on Energy Performance Certificates are produced by the Department of Communities and Local Government.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Developing Countries: Females

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will take steps to prioritise measures to improve the position of women and girls as part of her Department’s development programmes.

Justine Greening: DFID has put girls and women at the heart of international development. We prioritise work to improve the position of girls and women in everything we do.
	On 13 May 2014, the International Development Gender Equality Act 2014, championed by my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), came into law. This means that before development or humanitarian assistance is provided, the impact on gender equality must be considered.

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to reduce energy costs in her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Desmond Swayne: The Department for International Development is reducing expenditure on gas through various measures including the installation of a green roof and biomass boiler at our office in Scotland; we have also improved the external fabric of the building, reducing heat loss. We have reduced electricity use through reducing the number of IT servers, printers and by upgrading all laptops and PCs to models which use at least 50% less electricity. A reduction in plant operation times and wider temperature control at both UK sites has resulted in significant savings in both gas and electricity. In London, we have recently moved to a new smaller office which will save 25% in energy usage; we also incorporated energy saving mechanisms as part of the refurbishment.

Humanitarian Aid

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the UK’s priorities are for humanitarian policy at the September 2014 session of the UN General Assembly.

Justine Greening: The priority for humanitarian policy during this month’s session of the UN General Assembly is the creation of a more accountable, transparent and demand driven humanitarian system. This involves ensuring access to those in insecure environments, addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) in emergencies, making actors accountable for protecting women and girls, and making use of innovative approaches and technologies to provide relief and build resilience.
	Our priorities will also be aligned with our broader aims for the post-2015 development agenda.

Mass Media

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department has spent on media monitoring in each of the last five years.

Desmond Swayne: Since financial year 2008-09, media monitoring costs have been reduced by more than half to £63,960.40 in 2012-13.
	
		
			  £ 
			 2008-09 159,000.00 
			 2009-10 152,000.00 
			 2010-11 102,000.00 
			 2011-12 77,000.00 
			 2012-13 64,000.00 
			 Note: Figures rounded to the nearest 1,000.

Pay

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) her Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if she will make a statement.

Desmond Swayne: The highest and lowest full-time equivalent salary (in £5,000 banding) paid by DFID in each of the last five years is provided in the table below.
	
		
			 DFID 
			  £5,000 banding 
			  Highest FTE salary Lowest FTE salary 
			 2010-11 £170,000 to £175,000 £15,000 to £20,000 
			 2011-12 £170,000 to £175,000 £15,000 to £20,000 
			 2012-13 £160,000 to £164,999 £15,000 to £20,000 
			 2013-14 £160,000 to £164,999 £15,000 to £20,000 
			 2014-15 £160,000 to £164,999 £15,000 to £20,000 
		
	
	The highest and lowest full-time equivalent salary (in £5,000 banding) paid by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) in each of the years since it came into force in May 2011 is provided in the table below.
	
		
			 ICAI 
			  £5,000 banding 
			  Highest FTE salary Lowest FTE salary 
			 2011-12 £65,000 to £70,000 £25,000 to £30,000 
			 2012-13 £65,000 to £70,000 £25,000 to £30,000 
			 2013-14 £60,000 to £65,000 £25,000 to £30,000 
			 2014-15 £60,000 to £65,000 £25,000 to £30,000

West Africa

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government is taking to help tackle the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa.

Lynne Featherstone: The current outbreak of Ebola poses a serious public health risk to West Africa and is deeply concerning. The UK is taking a leading role in working with the countries affected and with the international community to ensure that the current Ebola outbreak is contained and help reaches those in need. In total, over £25 million of British funding is supporting the global effort to contain this disease. This includes £5 million of new direct funding to help partners working on the ground like the WHO, Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières? to treat victims and prevent the spread of Ebola. As announced by the Secretary of State for International Development on 8 September, British military and humanitarian experts will set up a medical treatment centre for victims of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, to provide vital treatment to victims of the disease including health workers and medical volunteers.